EARTf 

"«JCI 
-JrtAR 


THE  MONSTER- HUNTERS 


BOOKS    BY    FRANCIS    ROLT-WHEELER 


ZDU  S*  Service  Series 

Illustrations  from  Photographs  taken  for  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment.    Large  I2mo.     Cloth.     Price  $1.50  each. 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  FORESTERS 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  CENSUS 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  FISHERIES 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  INDIANS 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  EXPLORERS 
THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  LIFE-SAVERS 


LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

A  BATTLE  TO  THE  DEATH. 

Arsinothere  of  three  million  years  ago  impaling  a  carnivorous  creodont, 
somewhat  resembling  a  hyena. 


THE 

MONSTER -HUNTERS 


BY 
FRANCIS    $OLT-WHEELER 

Author  of'4  U.  S.  Service  Series  " 


WITH    FIFTY-THREE    ILLUSTRATIONS,    MOSTLY    FROM 

PHOTOGRAPHS    LOANED    BY    THE    AMERICAN 

MUSEUM    OF    NATURAL   HISTORY 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO. 


Published,  June,   1916 


Copyright,  1916, 
BY  LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  Co. 


All  Rights  Reserved 
'    THE  M'0N"s¥£RvHUNTERS 


IRorwooD  press 

BERWICK  &  SMITH  CO. 

NORWOOD,   MASS. 
U.    S.    A. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The  Author  desires  to  express  his  appreciation 
of  the  consultation  and  assistance  of  Professor 
Henry  Fairfield  Osborn,  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York  City, 
and  of  the  members  of  the  Scientific  Staff  of  the 
Museum,  especially:  Dr.  Frederic  A.  Lucas,  Di- 
rector ;  Dr.  W.  D.  Matthew,  Curator  of  Vertebrate 
Paleontology;  Mr.  Walter  Granger,  Associate 
Curator  of  Vertebrate  Paleontology  (Mammals) ; 
and  Mr.  Barnum  Brown,  Associate  Curator  of 
Vertebrate  Paleontology  (Eeptiles).  The  Au- 
thor further  wishes  to  express  appreciation  for 
the  use  of  illustrations  provided  by  the  Museum, 
naming  especially  the  restorations  of  Mr.  Charles 
E.  Knight. 


954158 


PEEFACE 

Mystery  and  marvel  are  the  gates  to  that  wild 
world  where  the  Monsters  of  the  past  lived  out 
their  monstrous  lives.  Adventure  that  carries 
one  into  those  steaming  coal  forests,  into  those 
black  and  reptile-haunted  swamps,  that  sets  one 
face  to  face  with  the  sprawling  brood  of  giants, 
terribly  menacing  and  terribly  true,  holds  a  thrill 
peculiar  to  itself.  So  startling,  so  madly  strange 
seem  the  conditions  that  we  scarcely  dare  to  be- 
lieve the  adventure  true,  and  then,  the  slow  proc- 
esses of  Time  turn  one  by  one  the  pages  of  that 
age-old  book,  and  the  most  extravagant  flight  of 
the  imagination  is  outdistanced  by  facts. 

Out  to  the  waste  and  desert  corners  of  the  earth, 
men  go  to  read  these  stories.  They  find  the  bones 
of  the  colossal  gladiators  still  locked  in  their  Ti- 
tanic struggle,  though  that  struggle  ended  in 
death  ten  million  years  ago;  they  find  a  ruthless 
war  of  tooth  and  claw  made  tenfold  more  ferocious 
than  any  combat  of  living  beasts  of  prey  by  the 
huge  bulk,  and  the  terrible  offensive  and  defen- 


PREFACE 

sive  weapons  of  those  vast  animals  that  the  Earth 
could  no  longer  tolerate. 

There  is  scarcely  a  place  in  all  the  world  where 
a  boy  cannot  find  for  himself  some  tokens  of  this 
Age  of  Monsters,  where  he  cannot  himself  be  the 
hunter  and  the  captor  of  strange  things.  In  this 
book  all  that  is  told  of  that  grim  past  is  true  and 
every  statement  may  be  taken  as  scientifically  ac- 
curate. To  show  to  the  boys  of  the  United  States 
the  thrill  of  discovery  in  their  own  country,  and 
the  splendor  of  the  work  that  their  scientists  and 
museum  experts  are  accomplishing,  is  the  aim  and 

purpose  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I 
KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON 1 

CHAPTER  II 
THE  MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE 28 

CHAPTER  III 
PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR 52 

CHAPTER  IV 
SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT 81 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  MAD  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX .  116 

CHAPTER  VI 
ACROSS  THE  DESERT  ON  CAMEL-BACK 154 

CHAPTER  VII 

FINDING  THE  ELEPHANT'S  GREAT-GRANDFATHER     .     .     .  187 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  VALLEY  OF  FOSSIL  WHALES 208 

CHAPTER  IX 
THE  MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS 237 

CHAPTER  X 
THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE 277 

CHAPTER  XI 
UNDER  THE  CLAWS  OF  A  DINOSAUR  .  306 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  Battle  to  the  Death Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Dragon  Slain  by  Regulus 20 

Scylla  of  the  Seven  Heads 20 

Merman  from  the  Mediterranean 20 

The  Dragon  of  the  Draehenfels 20 

Monsters  Thought  Real  by  the  Ancients .20 

The  Unicorn  in  China 42 

Stegosaurus,  the  Super-Dreadnought  of  Old      ....     50 

The  Largest  Creature  that  Ever  Flew 72 

A  Flying  Nightmare  of  Olden  Time 72 

Sea-Serpent  Attacking  a  Pirate  Ship 82 

The  Fiercest  Monster  that  Ever  Lived 84 

The  Sharp-Toothed  Death 86 

The  Jurassic  Sea-Serpent 86 

Combat  Between  Ichthyosaurus  and  Plesiosaurus       .     .     88 

Sea-Serpent  Swallowing  Sailors 96 

The  Most  Authentic  Sea-Serpent 96 

Waiting  for  the  Load 158 

Roaring  at  the  Weight 158 

Rising,  Still  Protesting 158 

Ready  for  Desert  March 158 

A  Camel  Being  Loaded  with  Half-Ton  Fossil  Cases  .     .  158 

At  the  Temple  of  Qasr-el-Sagha 194 

Across  the  Libyan  Desert 194 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Zeuglodon,  the  Primitive  Whale 220 

Climbing  to  the  Fossils 228 

Finding  a  Sea-Cow  Skeleton 228 

The  Four-Horned  Giants  at  Bay 232 

Into  the  Heart  of  Mexico 242 

Carrying  Shell  of  Glyptodont 242 

Pteranodon,  Climbing  for  a  Swoop 250 

Finding  the  Eobasileus 256 

The  Eobasileus  or  Loxolophodon 256 

The  American  Mastodon 270 

The  Siberian  Mammoth 270 

The  Mammoth  Tusk  He  Found 276 

Uncovering  a  Frozen  Mammoth .  276 

Finding  the  Eohippus 292 

Eohippus,  the  Four-Toed  Horse 292 

Finding  the  Mesohippus 294 

Mesohippus,  the  Three-Toed  Horse 294 

Smilodon,  the  Sabre-Tooth  Tiger 302 

Museum  Camp  in  Wyoming  Bad  Lands 308 

The  Largest  of  the  Titanotheres 308 

Herd  Crossing  Red  Deer  River,  Alberta   .     .     .      .      .  312 

Museum  Boat  Camp  on  Red  Deer  River 312 

Opening  (Rear  Tent)  to  Moropus  Quarry  .     .     .     .      .  322 

Inside  the  Moropus  Quarry,  Agate,  Neb 322 

The  Dryptosaurus,  a  Giant  Carnivorous  Reptile  .     .      .  328 

Unearthing  a  Saurolophus  Skeleton 330 

Unearthing  a  Diplodocus  Hind  Limb 330 

Brontosaurus  in  his  Native  Swamp 332 

Trachodon,  a  Duck-Billed  Dinosaur 338 

A  Brachiosaur,  Largest  of  All  Land  Creatures  ....  346 


THE  MONSTER- HUNTERS 


THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

CHAPTER  I 

KILLING  THE  LAST  DBAGON 

* '  FATHEB,  I  want  a  dragon !  ' ' 

The  shrewd  old  merchant  lowered  the  evening 
newspaper  he  was  diligently  reading,  and  looked 
over  it  at  his  son. 

"  All  right,  my  boy,"  he  said  with  a  smile ;  "  go 
ahead  and  get  one." 

"  But  I  mean  a  real  dragon!  " 

"  About  how  big,  Perry?  " 

"  I'd  like  one  about  a  hundred  feet  long,  if  I 
could  find  it." 

"  You  don't  want  much,"  was  his  father's  half- 
humorous  reply,  as  he  folded  the  newspaper  so 
that  he  could  read  the  next  column  with  more 
ease.  After  a  few  moments,  pursuing  the  sub- 
ject, he  continued, 

"Is  there  any  particular  breed  of  dragon  that 
you're  after?  " 

"  What  I  really  want,"  the  boy  answered,  "  is 

i 


•i          THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 


One  of  those  spiny  ones — the  sort  Uncle  George 
discovered  out  West." 

The  keen  old  financier  looked  thoughtful,  then 
deliberately  took  off  his  reading-glasses,  laid 
down  the' paper  and  turned  to  the  boy. 

"  You're  talking  about  fossil  monsters,  then," 
he  said. 

"  Yes,  Father,  that's  it  exactly.  And  I  do  hope 
you '11  let  me  do  it!  " 

The  boy's  earnestness  was  evident,  and  he 
knew  he  could  count  on  his  father,  for  they  had 
always  been  close  friends. 

"  Let  you  do  what?  "  the  merchant  queried  in 
response.  "  I  suppose  all  this  preamble  about  a 
dragon  means  that  you  have  some  crazy  notion  in 
your  head.  Come  along,  son,  tell  me  all  about  it. ' ' 

This  was  the  chance  for  which  Perry  Hunt  had 
long  been  waiting,  and  he  snatched  eagerly  at  it. 

"  There's  a  chap  I  know,"  he  sputtered, 
"  who's  going  'way  out  to  the  South  Dakota  Bad 
Lands  to  prospect  for  fossils.  He's  a  freshman 
at  Princeton,  and  it's  their  expedition.  He  told 
me  he  was  sure  he  would  be  able  to  take  me  along, 
if  I  could  fix  things  up  at  my  end.  I've  always 
been  wild  to  go  fossil-hunting,  Father,  and  this 
is  a  real  chance.  Can't  I  go?  " 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON       3 

Mr.  Hunt  tapped  the  ash  from  the  end  of  his 
cigar  and  looked  inquiringly  at  his  son. 

' '  What  in  thunder  do  you  know  about  fossils  I  ' ' 
he  asked,  abruptly. 

Perry  colored.  He  was  inclined  to  be  shy  about 
the  things  for  which  he  really  cared,  and  he  had 
never  before  talked  to  his  father  about  his  hobby. 
The  great  secret  of  his  boyhood  had  been  a  pas- 
sionate interest  in  the  strange  creatures  which 
used  to  wander  over  the  earth,  millions  of  years 
before  the  first  man.  Mr.  Hunt  had  a  sharp, 
quizzical  tongue,  and  Perry  was  afraid  of  being 
misunderstood  and  ridiculed.  Now,  however,  the 
time  for  concealment  was  past  and  he  spoke  up 
valiantly. 

"IVe  read  nearly  everything  I  could  get  hold 
of,  along  that  line,"  he  replied,  "  and  IVe  hung 
around  our  little  Museum  a  lot.  The  curators 
and  everybody  have  been  bully  to  me  down  there, 
and  they've  let  me  putter  about  in  the  workshops. 

I  really  have  learned  quite  a  bit  about  fossils, 
Father,  and  Mr.  Cavalier  has  shown  me  how  to 
draw.    IVe  drawn  heaps!  " 

"  The  deuce  you  have!  "  the  other  commented. 

II  Got  any  of  those  drawings  still?  " 
The  boy  nodded. 


4          THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Let  me  see  them,  Perry — that  is,  if  you  don't 
mind." 

Still  a  little  flushed  with  confusion,  the  boy  went 
to  his  own  room  and  came  back  a  few  minutes 
later  with  a  sketch-book.  His  father  turned  over 
the  pages.  The  drawings  covered  a  period  of 
several  years,  and  though  the  first  were  crude, 
the  later  ones  were  quite  well  done.  Those  dated 
during  the  last  year  showed  the  results  of  real 
study.  There  was  no  doubting  that  the  lad  had 
picked  up  a  fair  knowledge  of  gross  anatomy  in 
following  his  hobby. 

Most  of  the  pictures  were  copies  from  illustra- 
tions in  scientific  books  or  were  drawn  from 
models  in  the  Museum.  But  there  were  a  few, 
here  and  there,  that  were  just  fancy,  idle  sketches 
drawn  for  amusement's  sake.  Over  one  of  these 
— a  picture-book  dragon  with  scales  and  a  snaky 
tail — the  old  merchant  paused,  smiling.  Several 
minutes  elapsed  before  he  turned  the  page.  He 
went  through  the  book  twice  without  saying  a 
word.  At  last  he  spoke. 

*  *  In  the  second  drawer  from  the  bottom,  in  that 
cabinet,"  he  said,  pointing  to  an  old  cupboard 
which  Perry  had  never  seen  unlocked,  and  at  the 
same  time  handing  a  key  to  the  boy,  "  you  will 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON       5 

find  a  large  book  bound  in  faded  green  leather. 
Bring  it  here." 

Although  rebuffed  by  his  failure  to  get  a  direct 
answer  to  his  appeal  for  permission  to  go  on  the 
expedition,  Perry  took  the  key.  He  felt  that,  in 
some  way,  his  present  quest  was  connected  with 
the  question  he  had  raised,  and  as  he  unlocked 
the  cupboard,  the  boy  wondered.  In  the  drawer 
he  found  the  faded  book,  with  its  cover  of  green 
Eussian  leather  all  dry  and  crumbling  to  the 
touch,  and  brought  it  to  his  father.  Still  without 
comment,  the  old  merchant  slowly  untied  the 
string  that  held  the  covers  of  the  ancient  book  to- 
gether, and  opening  it  carefully,  turned  to  the  first 
page. 

There,  drawn  with  childish  detail,  was  a  pic- 
ture of  a  dragon  such  as  men  in  the  Middle  Ages 
believed  that  creature  really  to  be,  with  two  legs 
armed  with  claws,  spiked  wings,  a  long  power- 
ful tail,  scales,  and  a  ferocious-looking  head  with 
jaws  wide  open,  disclosing  pointed  teeth,  while 
from  the  throat,  flames  and  smoke  were  pouring  in 
volumes. 

The  boy  looked  up. 

"  Why,  Father—  "  he  began. 

With  a  faint  smile,  the  old  merchant  pointed 


6          THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

to  the  date  at  the  bottom  of  the  drawing,  its  pen- 
cil marks  so  faint  as  to  be  almost  indistinguish- 
able. 

"  I  must  have  been  nine  years  old,  then,"  he 
said.  "  I  can  remember  well  when  I  drew  that 
beast.  Father  had  a  queer  old  Latin  book,  a  sort 
of  mediaeval  natural  history,  and  it  gave  a  draw- 
ing of  every  supposedly  known  beast  in  the  world. 
This  was  one  of  them.  At  that  time  I  believed 
that  a  dragon  was  as  real  as  a  lion  or  an  elephant. 
To  tell  you  the  truth,  Perry,  Pve  never  quite  got 
away  from  the  feeling  of  that  old  book  of  Aldro- 
vandus,  his  beasts  were  so  much  a  part  of  my 
childhood.  When  I  was  a  youngster  I  was  con- 
vinced that  any  adventurous  boy  could  find  plenty 
of  dragons  like  this  one,  if  he  only  went  to  the 
right  place  to  look  for  them." 
"  And  did  the  book  tell  you  where  to  look?  " 
"  It  did,  exactly.  It  described  a  region  south 
of  Ethiopicus — that  was  Upper  Egypt — where  a 
vast  region  was  uninhabited  by  men  because  of 
the  presence  of  three  or  four  of  these  monsters. 
I  was  determined  to  go  there  some  day  and  kill  a 
dragon." 

"  And  you  took  it  all  in,  Father?  " 
"  Why  not?    Only  a  couple  of  years  before, 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON       7 

Stanley  rescued  Livingstone  in  the  first  great  ex- 
ploration across  Africa.  The  region  that  Aldro- 
vandus  wrote  about,  north  of  the  Victoria  Nyassa, 
in  my  day  was  still  an  absolutely  unexplored  ter- 
ritory. Anything  might  be  there,  even  dragons." 

"  I  should  think  you'd  have  known  there 
weren't  any  real  dragons,"  protested  Perry,  with 
the  cocksureness  of  a  boy. 

"  I  had  sense  enough  to  know  that  I  didn't 
know  it  all,"  said  his  father  with  a  snort,  empha- 
sizing the  personal  pronoun.  '  '  Why  even  in  your 
lifetime,  boy,  scientists  have  found  an  animal  that 
no  one  had  ever  heard  of  before,  still  living  in  the 
African  forests." 

"  What  was  that,  Father?  " 

"  The  okapi,  a  sort  of  giraffe  with  dagger- 
shaped  horns  and  striped  on  the  legs  something 
like  a  zebra.  And  that  discovery  is  a  good  exam- 
ple of  the  sort  of  thing  I  mean. 

"  Naturalists  once  used  to  laugh  at  some  of 
the  old  pictures  on  the  Egyptian  temples  which 
showed  a  beast  like  a  cross  between  an  antelope 
and  a  zebra,  with  stripes.  One  of  the  heads  of 
the  god  Set,  too,  was  unlike  any  animal  known 
in  the  world.  But  when,  in  1901,  the  first  okapi 
was  caught  by  Sir  H.  H.  Johnstone  in  the  Semliki 


8          THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

forest  in  Uganda,  it  was  found  that  the  old  Egyp- 
tians of  three  thousand  years  ago  were  right,  and 
that  the  modern  naturalists  were  wrong  in  their 
disbelief.  So  you  see,  Perry,  lots  of  things  are 
possible  that  one  would  never  expect." 

"  But  a  dragon,  Father!  It's  such  a  made-up 
sort  of  beast — wings,  teeth,  snake's  tail  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing!  " 

"  Don't  trouble  yourself  about  that,"  his  father 
answered,  "  there  are  plenty  of  dragons  with 
wings,  teeth  and  a  snake's  tail,  and,  what's  more, 
Science  calls  them  dragons.  Draco  volans,  the 
flying  dragon,  that's  their  real  name,  my  boy. 
But  they  are  all  small,  none  of  them  more  than 
ten  inches  in  length,  including  the  tail." 

"  Never  heard  of  them,"  said  Perry,  incredu- 
lously. 

"  If  you  don't  want  me  to  think  you  a  born 
idiot,"  his  father  answered  sharply,  "  don't  let 
me  catch  you  taking  that  tone,  suggesting  that  a 
thing  doesn't  exist  because  you  don't  know  about 
it.  There  are  a  few  million  things  that  you  don't 
know  now,  and  when  you  get  older  and  have  more 
sense,  you'll  find  a  few  million  more  things  that 
you  don't  know." 

"  I'm  sorry,  Father,"  the  boy  said,  in  a  milder 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON       9 

tone.    "  I  didn't  mean  to  be  uppish.    Won't  you 
tell  me  about  the  '  flying  dragon  r  ?  " 

"  They  are  small  lizards,"  his  father  answered, 
11  living  throughout  Malasia  and  in  Madagascar. 
They  have  a  long  lizard-like  tail,  four  inches  in 
length,  a  fierce-looking  head  with  a  frill  around 
it  to  make  them  look  ferocious,  and  the  skin  from 
the  body  to  the  four  legs  is  stretched  out  like  that 
of  a  flying  squirrel.  If  they  were  bigger,  they 
could  play  the  dragon's  part  well  enough'.  But, 
as  I  was  saying,  in  my  young  days  there  wasn't 
any  good  reason  why  I  should  disbelieve  the 
dragon.  Aldrovandus  said  he  possessed  the  skin 
of  one,  and  that  seemed  good  enough  proof  for  me. 
Yet  I  think  I  would  have  said  less  about  my  be- 
lief in  dragons,  if  I  had  any  idea  where  it  would 
land  me.  I  don't  think  I  ever  told  you  the  story 
of  my  fight  with  a  dragon,  did  I?  " 

"  A  real  sure-enough  fight?  " 

"  An  actual  fight  with  an  actual  dragon,"  said 
his  father,  with  a  smile. 

"  But  how  could  you?  " 

"  I  did  have  one,  just  the  same." 

66 1  don't  understand  you  a  bit.    Won't  you  tell 
the  story,  Father?  " 

Without  answering  directly,  the  old  merchant 


io        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

turned  over  page  after  page  of  the  drawing-book, 
its  pages  browned  and  the  pencil-sketches  faded 
with  age,  but  all  filled  with  dragons — every  kind 
of  dragon  that  the  boy  of  forty  years  ago  had 
been  able  to  discover  or  invent.  At  last  he 
stopped  before  a  picture  of  a  weird  beast,  that 
looked  like  a  cross  between  xa  man-eating  tiger,  a 
Chinese  dragon,  an  alligator,  and  a  boa-constric- 
tor, which  was  breathing  out  fire  and  smoke  as 
though  it  had  a  gas-works  in  its  inside.  In  front 
of  the  dragon  was  represented  a  small  boy,  about 
as  tall  as  the  dragon's  claw  was  long,  and  the 
youngster  was  sticking  a  knife  as  big  as  himself 
into  the  monster's  breast.  In  the  near  distance, 
quite  out  of  perspective,  were  a  number  of  people 
running  away  in  terror. 

"  There,"  the  old  merchant  said,  with  a  mix- 
ture of  amusement  and  complaisance,  ' '  that  was 
the  beast  I  fought.  Isn't  that  a  sure-enough 
dragon  for  you?  " 

After  his  former  rebuke,  Perry  was  a  little  du- 
bious about  seeming  too  skeptical,  but  he  could  not 
help  saying: 

"  Well,  that's  hardly  a  photograph,  is  it,  after 
all?  " 

"  No,"  his  father  answered,  "  it's  not.    I  sup- 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     11 

pose  I'll  have  to  admit  that  it  is  partly  imagina- 
tive. But  the  dragon  I  fought  was  something  like 
that." 

"  You've  got  me  guessing, "  the  boy  admitted. 
"  Won't  you  tell  me  the  story,  Father?  It  ought 
to  be  a  great  yarn." 

"I  suppose  I'll  have  to,"  the  other  agreed, 
"  since  IVe  led  you  on  so  far."  He  reached  out 
for  a  new  cigar,  clipped  it,  lighted  it,  and  when 
sure  that  it  was  drawing  properly,  leant  back  in 
his  chair  and  began. 

"  I  suppose  I  was  about  thirteen  years  old," 
he  said  reminiscently, ' '  when  this  famous  combat 
was  held.  At  that  time  my  folks  were  living  at 
a  small  place  called  Proctor's  Cave,  on  the  Green 
Eiver,  in  Kentucky,  not  far  from  the  Mammoth 
Cave.  As  you  probably  know,  Perry,  that  whole 
section  is  just  riddled  with  caves,  made  by  the 
gradual  dissolving  of  the  limestone  rock  through 
the  action  of  underground  rivers.  Most  of  them, 
too,  are  full  of  stalactites. 

"  Proctor's  Cave,  right  on  the  river,  was  quite 
a  growing  town,  and  though  it  was  small,  there 
was  a  right  smart  heap  of  children  in  proportion 
to  its  size.  About  thirty-five  boys  around  my  age 
went  to  the  school  there.  I  can  remember  the 


12        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

number  because  we  were  divided  into  two  gangs. 
Ours  had  fifteen  members  and  the  other  had 
twenty." 

"I  suppose  you  were  'boss'  of  your  gang, 
Father?  " 

"  I  was  the  *  War-Chief,'  "  was  the  smiling  re- 
sponse. "  Our  gang  was  called  the  '  Indians  ? 
and  the  others  were  the  '  Pioneers.'  You  can  see 
that  it  was  natural  for  us  always  to  be  ready  for 
a  fight.  Everything  was  taken  in  good  part, 
though,  until  one  day  we  caught  one  of  the  chaps 
in  the  other  gang  and  scalped  him." 

"  You  didn't  really  scalp  him!  " 

"  No,  not  exactly.  There  were  limits,  Perry, 
even  in  my  young  days.  But  the  victim  thought 
it  was  genuine.  That's  where  the  trouble  came 
in." 

"  How  was  it,  Father?  "  pleaded  the  boy,  fairly 
wriggling  with  excitement. 

"  As  I  remember,"  the  old  merchant  contin- 
ued, musingly,  "  a  week  or  so  before,  the  l  Pio- 
neers '  had  got  hold  of  one  of  our  gang  and  had 
given  him  the  t  third  degree.'  They  said  that 
if  he  was  an  c  Indian  '  he  ought  to  look  like  one. 
To  make  sure  of  it,  they  gave  him  a  coat  of  war- 
paint with  some  stuff  they  got  from  a  drug  store, 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     13 

and  the  war-paint  wouldn't  wash  off.  It  wouldn't 
even  scrape  off.  It  was  nearly  a  month  before 
it  wore  off. 

"  Our  turn  came  when  this  '  Pioneer  9  was  de- 
livered into  our  hands.  We  told  him  we  were  go- 
ing to  have  our  revenge,  and  I  tell  you,  he  was 
scared  stiff!  We  brought  the  youngster  to  our 
own  private  '  Indian  '  cave,  and  there  we  discussed 
tortures,  so  that  he  could  hear  what  was  being 
said.  Each  one  of  us  had  some  kind  of  torment 
more  excruciating  than  the  last." 

"  It  sure  must  have  been  blood-curdling  to  the 
chap  who  was  listening, "  put  in  Perry,  with  an 
appreciative  grin. 

"  I  haven't  a  doubt  of  it,"  his  father  agreed. 
"  Finally,  we  came  to  a  formal  decision  and  in- 
formed the  victim  that  he  was  to  be  scalped  alive. 
You  should  have  heard  him  yell !  However,  yell- 
ing didn't  do  any  good,  for  the  cave  was  half  a 
mile  from  town  and  a  couple  of  hundred  feet 
underground,  and  he  would  have  had  to  hoot  like 
a  Mississippi  Eiver  steamboat  in  order  to  be  heard 
at  all.  So  we  went  ahead  and  scalped  him." 

"  How,  Father?  "  queried  the  boy,  eagerly. 

"  We  made  quite  a  ceremony  of  it,"  was  the 
reply.  "  First  of  all,  we  gathered  a  lot  of  sting- 


i4        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

ing  nettles  that  grew  outside  the  cave  and  mashed 
them  up  with  vinegar  in  an  old  tin  can.  The 
vinegar,  you  know,  holds  the  sting;  it  even  seems 
to  make  it  stronger.  Then,  in  an  old  iron  pot 
we  had,  we  mixed  up  a  lot  of  corn  syrup  and  red 
ink — we  always  used  that  in  our  initiation  pow- 
wow, and  it  certainly  did  look  and  feel  like  blood. 

"  Next  we  blindfolded  the  unfortunate  '  Pi- 
oneer. '  We  dipped  a  piece  of  string  in  the  nettle 
juice  and  tied  it  loosely  round  his  head,  and 
sprinkled  his  head  with  the  nettle  vinegar,  know- 
ing that  it  would  only  take  a  minute  or  two  be- 
fore it  began  to  sting.  Then  we  took  his  cap, 
dipped  it  into  the  red  ink  and  syrup,  and  clapped 
it — not  boiling,  but  still  fairly  hot — on  his  head. 
At  the  same  instant,  one  of  the  '  braves  '  stuck  a 
bit  of  stick  in  a  loop  of  the  nettle-soaked  string 
and  twisted  it  tight,  also  running  his  thumbnail 
around,  as  if  it  were  a  knife.  The  cap  and  the 
blindfold  were  then  yanked  off  together. 

11  The  youngster  gave  just  one  look.  He  saw 
the  cap,  all  blood,  in  the  other  fellow's  hand,  and 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  his  scalp. 
The  tight  string  around  his  forehead  felt  like  a 
cut  and  the  nettles  began  to  sting  like  blazes. 
He  put  his  hand  up  to  his  head,  felt  the  sticky 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     15 

wetness,  looked  at  his  hand,  all  red,  let  out  an  ear- 
piercing  screech,  and  started  to  run.  That  was 
forty  years  ago,  but  I  believe  he  'd  have  been  run- 
ning yet,  if  he  hadn't  bumped  into  some  one  on 
the  road. 

"  '  Help !    I've  been  scalped ! '  he  yelled. 

"  I  reckon  he  must  have  given  the  farmer  a 
jolt,  for  while  we  were  a  good  way  from  the  Indian 
country,  still  there  were  plenty  of  '  hostiles  ' 
about,  and  any  day  there  might  be  a  raid.  This 
was  about  the  time  of  the  Little  Big  Horn  Mas- 
sacre." 

"  You  mean  Ouster's  last  stand?  " 

"  Yes.  So,  you  see,  the  farmer  had  reason 
enough  to  be  startled.  As  soon  as  he  had  a  good 
look  at  the  boy,  though,  he  saw  that  the  youngster 
was  only  frightened.  He  cut  the  nettle  s.tring 
from  the  lad's  head,  washed  off  in  the  nearest 
brook  as  much  of  the  red  ink  and  corn  syrup  as 
he  could,  and  started  for  town. 

"  I  thought  we  were  in  for  real  trouble,  but 
to  do  that  boy's  father  plain  justice,  I'll  admit  he 
was  a  good  sport.  Th'ough  he  was  as  mad  as  a 
hornet,  he  was  fair.  He  gave  me  a  good  tongue- 
lashing,  and  told  me — which  was  true — that  I 
ought  to  have  had  more  sense,  -as  the  boy  might 


16        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

have  been  killed  with  fright.  He  repeated  to  me 
the  old  story  of  the  man  who  was  ordered  to  be 
beheaded,  and  who  died  when  a  cup  of  cold  water 
was  dashed  on  his  neck  in  joke.  Still,  he  said 
it  was  a  boys'  row,  he  remembered  when  he  was 
a  boy  himself,  and  it  wasn't  his  business  to  inter- 
fere.' He  added  that  he  hoped  I  would  get  my 
medicine  from  the  other  gang,  twice  as  hot  as  I 
had  given  it." 

"  That  was  fair  enough,  Father. " 

"  Indeed  it  was.  But  even  he  was  satisfied 
with  what  I  got  in  return." 

"  What  was  it?  "• 

The  old  merchant  rolled  up  his  sleeve  to  the 
shoulder,  and  showed  his  son  a  white  scar  running 
down  almost  the  whole  length  of  the  upper  arm. 
The  wound  had  evidently  been  a  deep  one. 

"  I  got  that  from  the  dragon,"  he  said. 

"  You'd  a  real  fight,  then?  "  ejaculated  Perry, 
surprised  at  this  evidence  of  an  actual  encounter. 

"  I  was  laid  up  for  nearly  a  month,"  was  the 
reply.  "  But  they  didn't  build  any  statues  to  me 
as  they  did  to  St.  George,  when  he  slew  the 
dragon,  and  no  one  gave  me  a  triumph,  as  the  peo- 
ple of  Eome  did  to  Eegulus  over  his  combat  with 
a  monster." 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     17 

66 1  never  heard  of  the  Eegulus  story,"  Perry 
said. 

"  It  wasn't  a  story,"  his  father  corrected  him, 
1 '  it  was  a  real  fight,  like  mine.  Or  at  least  it  was 
said  to  he  a  real  fight.  Regains  sent  home  the  skin 
of  his  dragon,  and  it  was  carried  before  him  in  his 
triumph. ' ' 

"  But  I  thought  all  those  dragon  fights  were 
just  fairy  tales !  ' ' 

"  Most  of  them  are,"  his  father  answered. 
"  With  the  exception  of  mine,  I  think  Eegulus' 
fight  with  the  dragon  is  the  only  one  that  is  sup- 
posed to  be  attested  by  history.  Do  you  want  to 
hear  about  it?  " 

"I'd  rather  hear  yours,"  Perry  replied. 

"I'll  come  to  that  presently,"  the  merchant 
assured  him,  ' '  and  the  story  of  Eegulus  may  put 
you  in  the  right  frame  of  mind  to  hear  about  my 
prowess. 

"  Marcus  Atillius  Eegulus,  almost  the  only  his- 
torical character  to  have  fought  with  a  dragon," 
he  began,  "  bore  one  of  the  noblest  names  in 
Eome.  You  may  have  learned  in  school,  Perry, 
how  he  ravaged  the  shores  of  Africa  and  brought 
Carthage  into  subjection,  but  that,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, he  was  defeated.  As  a  prisoner,  he  was  sent 


1 8        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

by  Carthage  on  an  embassy  to  make  peace,  upon 
his  own  honorable  promise  to  return  to  his  foes 
to  die  by  torture  unless  his  embassy  of  peace  was 
successful.  On  arriving  at  Eome,  Eegulus  gave 
the  message  with  which  he  had  been  entrusted  by 
the  Carthaginians,  but  ended  with  a  patriotic  ap- 
peal to  Eome  not  to  let  their  affection  and  loyalty 
to  him  overtop  their  honor. 

"'Let  the  prisoners  be  left  to  perish  un- 
heeded,' he  said,  *  let  war  go  on  till  Carthage  be 
subdued.'  His  counsel  prevailed,  the  offers  of 
peace  were  refused,  and  Eegulus  returned  volun- 
tarily to  Carthage.  The  Eomans  have  enshrined 
the  name  of  Eegulus  high  in  the  pages  of  honor, 
but  the  Carthaginians  had  little  understanding  of 
valor  and  good  faith.  They  cut  off  his  eyelids, 
placed  him  in  a  barrel  spiked  with  nails,  knocked 
the  head  of  the  barrel  out  and  fastened  him  there 
so  that  he  was  immovable.  Even  his  hands  were 
tied.  Then  they  exposed  him,  naked,  to  the  glare 
of  an  African  sun,  to  die  by  the  slow  agonies  of 
thirst,  fever,  the  scorch  of  the  sun  upon  the  un- 
protected eyeballs,  and  the  stinging  insects  of  the 
desert." 

"  But  Eome  got  back  at  them?  " 

"  Yes,"  his  father  answered,  "  Scipio  Africanus 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     19 

captured  Carthage,  leveled  every  house  to  ground, 
sowed  salt  on  the  ruins  and  in  the  name  of  Eome 
forbade  any  building  to  be  erected  there  again. 
But  I've  told  you  the  story  of  Eegulus,  son,  so 
that  you  might  see  that  such  a  man  was  scarcely 
likely  to  invent  a  story  about  a  dragon  to  help 
his  reputation." 

"  Where  did  he  fight  the  dragon?  In  Africa, 
too?  " 

"  Not  very  far  from  Carthage.  It  was  in  the 
year  256  B.  c.,  after  the  first  Punic  War  had  been 
raging  for  eight  years,  that  Eegulus  captured  the 
city  of  Utica,  about  sixty  miles  northwest  of  Car- 
thage, near  the  modern  city  of  Tunis.  Between 
Utica  and  Carthage  flowed  a  river,  then  called  the 
Bagrada,  difficult  to  cross  except  at  one  ford. 
When  Eegulus  and  his  soldiers  came  to  this  ford, 
they  found  the  passage  disputed  by  an  enormous 
dragon,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long." 

"  A  real  monster!  "  ejaculated  the  boy. 

"  Wasn't  he?  And,  so  the  old  Eoman  historian 
tells,  the  skin  of  the  monster  was  so  tough  that 
the  Eomans  could  not  pierce  his  hide.  Several 
times  Eegulus  led  the  attack  upon  the  dragon,  but 
each  time  the  beast  killed  and  devoured  several 
of  the  soldiers.  At  last  Eegulus  brought  up  the 


20        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

artillery,  the  ballistaB  and  catapults,  and  bom- 
barded the  dragon.  Supported  by  the  artillery, 
Eegulus  plunged  across  the  river  alone,  fought 
the  dragon  single-handed  and  slit  his  throat.  The 
skin  was  carried  to  Eome  and  graced  Eegulus' 
triumph." 

* '  What  do  you  suppose  it  really  was  f  ' '  queried 
the  boy. 

"  I  think, "  his  father  answered,  "  it  must  have 
been  a  huge  crocodile.  That  would  explain  why 
the  Eoman  swords  could  not  pierce  the  so-called 
dragon's  hide,  and  why  the  combat  seems  to  have 
taken  place  at  the  ford  of  a  river. " 

* l  But  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  Father !  ' 

"  Possibly  that  was  worked  out  from  the  skele- 
ton. In  those  days  it  would  be  quite  easy  to  put 
the  backbones  of  several  animals  together.  That 
trick  was  done  only  thirty  years  ago,  when  Dr. 
Albert  Koch  collected  the  bones  of  two  or  three 
Zeuglodons  or  primitive  whales  and  made  a  mon- 
ster which  he  called  '  Hydrarchus,  the  Water 
King,'  and  which  he  exhibited  all  over  Europe. 
Eegulus'  dragon,  carried  in  his  triumph,  might 
have  been  something  of  the  kind.  As  for  the  Zeu- 
glodons, I've  often  thought  that  the  discovery  of 
skeletons  of  antediluvian  beasts  might  have  been 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     21 

one  of  the  reasons  for  popular  belief  in  dragons." 

"  Was  yours  one  of  that  kind?  " 

"  Mine/'  said  his  father,  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye,  "  was  a  real  dragon." 

* '  But  it  couldn't  be,  Father.  You  said  the  other 
gang  had  something  to  do  with  it!  " 

"  They  unearthed  him  from  his  lair,"  the  other 
answered.  "  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  tell  you  just 
how  it  all  happened,  Perry,  and  then  you'll  see  if 
you  don't  think  I  deserve  a  triumph,  just  as  much 
as  Eegulus  did!  " 

The  boy  waited  expectantly,  and,  in  a  moment, 
his  father  continued: 

"  All  that  summer,  the  summer  after  the  scalp- 
ing, I  was  on  the  lookout  for  squalls,  but  nothing 
happened.  The  '  Pioneers  '  didn't  seem  to  be 
trying  to  get  their  revenge,  or  if  they  were  try- 
ing, we  were  too  much  on  the  alert.  I  afterwards 
found  out  that  they  had  been  laying  plans  all 
summer,  but  that  none  of  them  had  worked.  It 
was  not  until  the  autumn  that  their  plot  came 
to  a  head. 

"  One  evening,  late  in  October,  when  it  was  al- 
ready beginning  to  get  dark  early,  I  was  delayed 
in  going  to  the  cave.  It  was  one  of  the  regular 
evenings  for  a  meeting  and  we  had  something 


22        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

very  important  to  do — I  forget  what,  now — so  I 
was  running  at  a  good  clip.  Just  as  I  struck 
the  little  hidden  path  that  diverged  toward  the 
cave,  I  heard  the  fellows  talking  loudly,  in  ex- 
cited tones.  Wondering  what  could  have  hap- 
pened, for  it  was  one  of  the  rules  always  to  ap- 
proach the  hiding  place  in  silence,  I  quickened 
my  run  still  more,  and  in  a  minute  or  two,  burst 
upon  the  fellows  who  were  gathered  in  a  clump 
not  far  from  the  entrance  to  the  cave.  The  sec- 
ond I  appeared,  three  or  four  of  them  shouted, 
in  a  breath: 

' '  *  Chief !  There 's  a  dragon  in  the  cave !  ' 
"  I  told  you,  Perry,  that  I'd  always  done  a  lot 
of  talking  about  dragons,  and  this  ought  to  have 
made  me  suspicious.  But  I'd  been  reading,  a  day 
or  two  before,  about  Eegulus,  and  all  my  early 
interest  had  been  suddenly  awakened.  As  I  look 
back  on  it  now,  I  don't  think  doubt  even  entered 
my  mind.  The  gang  was  evidently  so  scared  that 
the  scare  got  into  my  bones,  too. 

"  I  found  out  that  one  of  the  smallest  of  the 
boys  had  come  early  and  gone  into  the  cave,  and 
that  he  had  rushed  out  again,  screaming  to  another 
fellow,  who  was  just  coming  up  the  path,  that 
in  the  cave  there  was  a  huge  dragon,  with  a  shin- 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     23 

ing  tail,  breathing  out  flames.  He  said  it  had 
roared  at  him  and  that  it  was  as  long  as  a  barge. 

"  The  older  boy,  he  was  l  Chief  Brave  '  and 
second  in  command  of  the  gang,  had  laughed  at 
him,  picked  up  a  chunk  of  wood  for  a  club,  and 
started  for  the  opening.  Half-way  down,  he  heard 
the  growling  of  some  beast  and  his  courage  oozed 
out.  Without  going  in  to  see  what  it  was,  he 
bolted  out  again  as  promptly  as  the  little  lad  had 
done.  He  was  afraid  the  dragon  would  follow 
him,  but  nothing  appeared.  None  of  the  rest  of 
the  gang  had  volunteered.  They  waited  for  me 
to  show  up,  and  tell  them  what  to  do.  It  wasn't 
that  I  was  any  bigger,  son,  but,  after  all,  I  was 
'  War  Chief  '  and  it  was  my  part  to  lead  them  on. 

"  If  there  had  only  been  the  little  fellow's 
story,"  the  old  merchant  continued,  "  I  don't 
think  I'd  have  felt  the  same  way  about  it.  But 
the  '  Chief  Brave  '  was  not  only  a  plucky  sort, 
but  I  depended  a  good  deal  on  his  judgment.  As 
I  saw  it,  there  was  only  one  thing  to  do,  and  that 
was — to  face  the  monster  and  find  out  what  could 
be  done.  If  I  could  really  slay  a  dragon,  I  thought, 
I  should  go  down  in  history  with  Siegfried  and 
Beowulf  and  all  the  rest  of  them.  So  I  loaded 
an  old  horse  pistol  that  we  had,  and,  more  for 


24        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

show  than  anything  else,  stuck  a  bowie  knife  in 
my  belt  and  started  into  the  tunnel-like  opening 
of  the  cave,  the  gang  following  cautiously  behind. 

"  I  tell  you,  my  boy,  it  was  mighty  uncomfort- 
able, creeping  through  that  long,  black  passage, 
hearing  nothing  but  the  hard  breathing  of  the 
frightened  fellows  behind.  And  when,  about  half- 
way down,  the  silence  was  suddenly  broken  by  a 
savage,  whining  snarl,  I  had  a  feeling  that  ice  was 
being  rubbed  down  my  spine.  It  wasn't  quite  my 
idea  of  a  dragon's  roar,  it  was  worse,  there  was 
such  an  evil  relish  in  the  sound  that  the  flesh  under 
my  hair  just  crawled. 

"  If  I  had  been  alone,  I'd  have  done  the  same 
thing  as  the  others  did,  I'd  have  turned  tail  and 
got  out  of  that  place  as  quickly  as  I  could.  But 
the  gang  was  behind  me.  I  was  afraid,  afraid 
to  death,  of  that  snarl  in  front,  but  the  fear  of 
ridicule  was  even  stronger.  I  would  rather  be 
clawed  to  death  by  a  dragon  than  be  guyed  as  a 
coward.  So,  gripping  the  pistol  closer,  I  crawled 
forward. 

"  I  think  I  could  have  walked  with  more  con- 
fidence, but  on  hands  and  knees,  it  was  ghastly. 
I  could  put  my  hands  out  without  difficulty,  but 
the  fear  sent  a  spasm  into  my  knees  so  that  it 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     25 

was  hard  to  move  them.  Still,  foot  by  foot,  ever 
hearing  that  malignant  whine  grow  closer,  I 
groped  my  way  through  the  opening.  It  was  only 
fifty  feet  long,  but  it  seemed  interminable.  At 
last  I  saw  the  light  and,  with  a  huge  sense  of  re- 
lief, leaped  from  the  narrow  tunnel  into  the  cave 
itself. 

' '  I  leaped  almost  into  the  monster 's  jaws.  For, 
facing  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  not  six  paces  away, 
was  the  dragon,  growling  and  snapping,  while 
every  few  seconds  he  followed  the  clash  of  the 
gnashing  teeth  with  that  long  whining  snarl  that 
had  so  scared  me  during  that  endless  crawl  in  the 
dark." 

"  What  did  he  look  like,  Father?  » 
"  In  the  half -dusk  of  the  cave  he  looked  f  ear- 
ful T  In  my  excitement  he  looked  every  inch  a 
dragon.  The  front  part  of  him  was  like  a  wolver- 
ine, and  his  body  all  glittered  with  silver  scales. 
Behind  him  he  dragged  a  thick  tail,  something 
like  an  alligator's,  only  round,  all  covered  with 
shiny  scales." 

"  How  about  the  fire-breathing  business?  " 
"  I  didn't  stop  to  notice.    I  was  too  excited 
and  too  frightened  to  bother  myself  with  think- 
ing what  breed  of  dragon  he  was.    I  aimed  the 


26        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

old  pistol  and  fired.  The  '  kick  '  of  it  nearly  broke 
my  wrist.  At  the  same  instant,  the  dragon  lifted 
himself  heavily,  dragging  his  hinder  part,  and 
launched  full  at  me.  I  shrank  back,  flat  against 
the  wall  of  the  cave,  and  his  spring  fell  short. 
The  hot  froth  and  blood  on  his  fangs  slathered 
on  my  coat,  and  I  knew  that  the  monster  was 
badly  hurt.  There  was  little  room  to  dodge  in 
that  cave,  but  I  jumped  sideways. 

"  He  turned  jerkily,  and  I  saw  that  his  huge 
tail  was  injured.  For  the  first  time,  my  spirits 
rose.  It  was  his  tail  I  had  feared.  I  had  been 
afraid  that  he  would  lash  out  with  it,  crushing 
me  to  pieces.  If,  however,  he  were  already  hurt, 
I  might  be  able  to  dodge  about  him,  and  get  the 
best  of  him  yet.  But  he  could  move  quicker  than 
I  thought. 

"  Before  I  realized  it,  he  was  on  me.  Again 
he  sprang,  with  that  curious  dragging  of  his  hinder 
parts  as  though  they  were  paralyzed.  I  had  no 
room  to  dodge  away,  for  the  wall  of  the  cave  was 
behind  me.  In  desperation,  I  pulled  out  my  bowie 
knife.  Before  I  could  lunge,  however,  a  paw  with 
curved  claws  like  Turkish  daggers  flashed  out  and 
laid  my  left  arm  open  to  the  bone. 

"  Eeeling  from  pain  and  the  loss  of  blood,  I 


KILLING  THE  LAST  DRAGON     27 

struck  forward  with  the  knife.  I  hit  some  kind 
of  a  bone,  I  remember,  then  felt  the  curious  sense 
of  the  blade  piercing  through  living  flesh.  Again 
the  monster  reared.  I  swayed  back,  too  far  gone 
to  move  my  feet,  which  seemed  fastened  to  the 
door  of  the  cave.  But  as  I  stared,  almost  fasci- 
nated, into  the  green  light  of  the  creature's  eyes, 
I  saw  a  glaze  pass  over  them.  He  reared,  wavered 
and  fell  over  in  a  heap.  Almost  I  collapsed  upon 
him  myself,  but  as  I  tottered,  one  of  the  fellows 
sprang  out  from  the  mouth  of  the  cave  and  caught 
me.  He  snatched  the  bowie  to  give  another  blow, 
but  the  dragon  never  moved  again.  My  knife  had 
reached  the  heart." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   MONSTERS   THAT   NEVER  WERE 

"  BUT,  Father/'  cried  Perry, "  you  haven't  told 
me  what  the  dragon  really  was!  " 

"  I  didn't  know,  myself,  for  a  few  minutes," 
was  the  reply.  "  I  dropped  in  my  tracks,  right 
there.  A  couple  of  the  fellows  picked  me  up, 
though,  as  soon  as  I  began  to  feel  a  little  less 
faint,  and  the  three  of  us,  waiting  until  we  were 
sure  that  the  monster  was  quite  dead,  went  up 
close  to  him.  I  had  noticed,  in  a  dim  kind  of 
way,  that  the  dragon's  scales  looked  queer  and 
that  some  of  them  had  been  scraped  off  on  the 
floor  of  the  cave.  But  when  we  got  right  up  to 
him,  what  do  you  suppose  we  found  those  scales 
were?  " 

"  I  haven't  the  ghost  of  an  idea,"  the  boy  an- 
swered expectantly. 

' '  They  were  made  of  the  silver  paper  that  comes 
wrapped  around  bars  of  chocolate." 

"  What?" 

38 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     29 

"  Just  plain  silver  paper. " 

"  It  was  the  other  gang,  then — "  suggested 
Perry,  seeing  a  clue. 

"  That's  just  what  it  was,  the  other  gang." 

"  Then  it  was  a  fake  dragon!  "  cried  the  boy, 
disappointed.  "  You  said  it  was  alive!  " 

"  Does  my  arm  look  as  if  the  beast  hadn't  been 
alive?  "  retorted  his  father.  "  It  was  a  mighty 
lucky  thing  for  me  it  wasn't  any  more  alive  than 
I  found  it!" 

"  What  was  the  dragon,  really,  Father?  "  the 
lad  persisted. 

"  It  was  a  lynx,  or  bob-cat,"  was  the  reply. 
"  The  '  Pioneers  '  had  trapped  the  beast  in  the 
woods  and  brought  it  to  our  cave,  with  the  trap 
still  fastened  to  the  bob-cat's  hind  foot.  The 
other  hind  paw  had  been  tied  to  a  heavy  log. 

"  Then  the  fellows  had  gone  to  work  and  made 
a  long  tail  of  sacking,  stuffed  with  shavings,  and 
fastened  this  tail  tightly  around  the  lynx's 
haunches,  so  that  it  would  trail  behind.  They'd 
dusted  it  all  over  with  mustard  and  red  pepper, 
so  tha^  the  animal  wouldn't  chew  at  it  and  tear 
it  off.  After  that,  they  chucked  a  couple  of  pail- 
fuls  of  carpenter's  glue,  almost  boiling  hot,  over 
the  beast,  head,  tail  and  all,  and  stuck  the  silver 


30        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

paper  on,  when  the  glue  was  wet.  I  don't  won- 
der the  bob-cat  was  savage !  " 

"  They  must  have  had  a  picnic  doing  it!  "  ex- 
claimed Perry. 

"  IVe  thought  of  that  many  times  since, "  his 
father  agreed.  "  But  they  made  a  good  job  of 
it.  They  even  took  the  trouble  to  cut  all  the  silver 
paper  in  shapes  so  that  it  would  look  like  real 
scales. ' ' 

"  They  took  an  awful  chance,  though,  Father. 
Suppose  the  tail  had  come  off?  What  would  have 
happened  to  you?  " 

"  I  don't  think  the  tail  saved  me,"  the  other 
answered.  "  After  all,  the  bob-cat  was  badly 
crippled,  with  both  hind  legs  out  of  commission. 
You  see,  Perry,  a  lynx  leaps  for  his  prey,  grips 
with  teeth  and  fore-claws  and  tears  with  the  hind 
claws.  With  the  trap  on  one  foot  and  a  log  on 
the  other,  the  other  gang  knew  I  was  fairly  safe. 
So  far,  they  had  been  right  enough.  Where  they 
went  wrong  was  in  not  knowing  the  animal.  They 
all  thought  the  creature  was  just  a  big  domestic 
pussy  that  had  got  a  bit  wild  running  around  in 
the  woods.  It  was  a  true  lynx,  though,  and  a  big 
one." 

"  Did   you    send   the    skin   home   for   a   *  tri- 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     31 

umph  '  1  ' '  the  boy  quickly  asked.    ' '  Where  is  it !  " 

"  When  that  combination  of  glue  and  silver 
paper  got  thoroughly  dry, ' '  the  old  merchant  com- 
mented, "  there  wasn't  much  value  to  the  skin. 
We  kept  it  as  a  trophy,  of  course,  but  we  kept  it 
in  the  cave.  For  all  I  know,  it's  there  yet.  If 
you're  so  keen  to  find  a  dragon,  Perry,  I'll  tell 
you  exactly  where  to  go  for  it." 

"I'm  afraid  even  our  own  local  Museum 
wouldn't  take  it,"  the  boy  objected,  smiling. 

"  Maybe  they  wouldn't,  but,  so  far  as  I  know, 
it's  the  only  genuine  dragon  that  has  put  up  a 
genuine  fight  for  the  last  couple  of  thousand  years. 
So,  my  son,  if  you  ever  do  go  dragon-hunting, 
don't  forget  that  your  father  was  the  last  of  all 
the  champions  of  valor  who  fought  and  defeated 
a  dragon  single-handed." 

"  Then  you  really  will  let  me  go  dragon-hunt- 
ing with  the  Princeton  crowd?  "  Perry  inter- 
jected, returning  to  his  first  plea. 

"I've  been  thinking  about  it,"  his  father  an- 
swered meditatively,  "  and  I  don't  think  I  will. 
Wait  a  bit — "  he  continued,  as  he  saw  the  bitter 
disappointment  in  the  lad's  face,  "  I  haven't 
finished.  I  don't  say  that  I  won't  let  you  go  on 
a  search  for  fossils  some  time,  but  I  don't  think 


32         THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

this  Princeton  expedition  is  the  right  thing  for 
you.  And  I'll  tell  you  why." 

"  I'm  sure  it  would, "  burst  out  Perry. 

"  I'll  tell  you  why,"  his  father  said  again,  with 
that  calm  repetition  from  which  the  boy  knew  of 
old  there  was  no  appeal.  "  You  would  simply  go 
as  a  helper,  you  wouldn't  have  any  real  share  in 
the  plan,  and  you  would  only  have  a  lot  of  dirty 
and  laborious  work  to  do  without  any  real  chance 
to  learn." 

"  But,  Father,"  interrupted  the  boy.  He 
caught  the  glance  of  reproof  and  stopped. 

"  If  you  interrupt  me  again,  Perry,  I  shall  not 
say  what  I  was  going  to  say — and  you'll  be  the 
loser. ' 9 

Distinctly  set  back,  Perry  straightened  himself 
and  sat  still.  After  a  pause,  his  father  continued : 

"  That  book  of  drawings  you  showed  me,  son, 
which  covered  several  years  of  work,  looks  to  me 
like  fairly  good  evidence  that  your  interest  is 
genuine.  I  want  to  be  sure  that  it's  not  just  a 
fad,  that  you'll  tire  of  in  a  month  or  two." 

"Oh,  it  isn't,  Father!" 

"  You'd  say  that,  Perry,  of  course,  in  any  case. 
Just  the  same  I  rather  think  you  mean  it.  Now, 
what  I  want  to  say  is  this :  Since  you  really  so 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     33 

seem  to  have  an  interest  in  these  dragon-forms  of 
old  times,  and  as  I  suppose  you've  inherited  it, 
to  a  certain  extent,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  ought 
to  give  you  a  chance  to  find  out  if  that's  the  sort 
of  thing  you  want  to  take  up  for  your  life-work. 

"  So  far,  I  haven't  made  any  special  plans  for 
your  future,  Perry,  because  I  haven't  known  just 
how  your  desires  would  run.  I  wanted  to  see 
which  way  the  cat  would  jump,  first.  Do  you 
really  think  that  you  would  like  to  give  your  whole 
time  to  paleontology,  or  do  you  want  to  keep  it 
as  a  hobby  I  Answer  carefully,  now,  because 
quite  a  stretch  of  your  life  may  hang  on  the  re- 
ply." 

Perry  thought  for  a  minute  or  two,  then  an- 
swered slowly : 

"  I  think  I'd  rather  try  to  find  the  monsters 
that  no  one  has  ever  seen.  I'd  like  to  dig  up 
secrets  in  all  the  queer  corners  of  the  world.  I'd 
rather  find  a  new  kind  of  creature,  such  as  no  one 
had  even  dreamt  of  before,  than  be  a  multi-mil- 
lionaire! ' 

"  Very  good,"  his  father  answered,  "  if  that's 
your  feeling,  my  boy,  you  shall  have  your  chance 
and  you  shall  have  it  in  the  best  way  possible. 
I  suppose  you  know  that  your  Uncle  George  is 


34        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

going  to  take  out  an  expedition  for  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New  York,  this 
year?  " 

"  No,  Father,  I  didn't  know  it,"  Perry  replied. 
"  Out  West?  " 

"  I  think  not,"  his  father  answered.  "  If  I 
remember  rightly,  when  he  was  here  a  month  or 
two  ago,  he  said  something  about  going  to  Egypt." 

"And  I  could  go?  " 

"  That  depends  on  a  number  of  things,"  the 
old  merchant  answered,  guardedly.  "  Still, 
there 's  a  possibility  that  I  might  persuade  him  to 
take  you  along.  You  see,  Perry,  if  I  were  to  pay 
for  your  part  of  the  expenses  out  of  my  pocket, 
the  New  York  Museum  wouldn't  lose  anything  and 
perhaps  you  might  do  something  to  help." 

"  But  that  would  cost  a  heap,  Father." 

The  financier  smiled. 

66  You  don't  imagine  that  you're  not  an  ex- 
pense, do  you?  "  he  queried.  "  But  I  don't  mind 
footing  the  bill  for  anything  that  will  give  you  a 
real  start  in  the  world  at  the  kind  of  work  you 
want  to  do.  I  don't  believe  in  wasting  money  on 
things  you  don't  need — that's  why  I  wouldn't  buy 
you  that  two-cylinder  motorcycle — but  I'll  keep 
my  wallet  open,  any  time  that  you  want  something 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     35 

that  is  really  worth  while.  Now  trot  along,  son, 
and  I'll  write  to  Uncle  George  and  see  what  he 
thinks  about  the  whole  project." 

"  Thanks  ever  and  ever  and  ever  so  much, 
Father, "  the  boy  said,  heartily,  getting  up  from 
his  chair,  "  and  I  do  hope  I  can  go !  Oh,  and  say, 
Father,''  he  continued,  pointing  to  the  faded  green 
book  which  lay  on  the  table, ' t  can  I  take  this  along 
and  go  over  it  a  bit  more  thoroughly?  I'll  be  ever 
so  careful." 

"  All  right,  son,"  the  other  answered,  "  but 
don't  take  what  you  see  in  there,  literally.  There 
are  enough  weird  creatures  in  that  book  to  make 
the  fortunes  of  a  dozen  Barnums,  if  they  could 
ever  be  found  and  put  under  a  circus  tent.  Watch 
out  that  they  don't  give  you  a  nightmare!  " 

"  I've  dreamt  about  fossils,  heaps  and  heaps 
of  times,  Father,"  said  Perry  grinning,  as  he 
opened  the  door.  "  Some  of  these  days,  I'm  go- 
ing to  make  all  those  dreams  come  real,  too!  " 

As,  in  his  own  room,  the  boy  turned  over  the 
pages  of  that  book  of  his  father's  childhood,  the 
fascination  of  the  monsters  of  the  past  crept  over 
him  more  and  more.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
Perry  had  inherited  this  interest,  for  every  leaf 
of  the  volume  before  him  was  indelibily  stamped 


36        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

with  the  eagerness  of  a  boy  absorbed  in  the  sub- 
ject. 

Although  Perry  was  more  or  less  familiar  with 
the  three-horned  Triceratops,  the  twenty-ton 
Brontosaurus  and  the  gaunt-winged  Pterodactyl, 
the  still  stranger  creatures  in  the  faded  green  book 
were  unknown  to  him.  The  Eoc,  the  Griffin,  the 
Chimaera,  the  Phoenix,  the  Basilisk — they  were 
like  characters  in  a  fairy  tale.  Still,  as  he  looked 
at  the  pictures  of  them  limned  by  the  boy  of  forty 
years  ago,  a  strange  feeling  came  over  Perry  that 
perhaps — in  some  remote  corner  of  the  world — 
these  creatures  might  be  living  still. 

There  was  an  air  of  expectant  reality  in  their 
pose,  and,  not  only  had  his  father  drawn  them 
in  the  book,  but  he  had  also — in  a  round  imma- 
ture scrawl — copied  upon  the  opposite  page  the 
words  of  the  old  naturalists  who  claimed  to  have 
seen  the  monsters  with  their  own  eyes. 

One  page  showed  (in  red  and  yellow  chalk)  a 
blazing  fire  in  an  Egyptian  temple  courtyard,  the 
flames  of  which  shot  higher  than  the  pylons  of 
the  temple  gateway.  Full  in  the  center  of  the 
flames,  wearing  a  peaceful  look  as  though  enjoy- 
ing the  process  of  being  burned  alive,  was  a  large 
bird,  with  a  crest  of  yellow  feathers  on  its  head, 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     37 

like  an  imperial  crown.  Under  the  picture  was 
written  "  The  Phoenix,"  and  on  the  page  oppo- 
site, the  story  read: 

' t  Sir  Thomas  Browne  says :  *  There  is  but  one 
Phoenix  in  all  the  world,  which  after  many  hun- 
dred years  burns  herself,  and  from  the  ashes 
thereof  riseth  up  another,  is  a  conceit  (belief)  of 
great  antiquity,  not  only  delivered  by  humane 
(learned)  writers  but  frequently  expressed  by 
holy  writers.'  " 

Perry's  father — then  ten  years  old,  had  added: 

"  Swan  says  this  can't  be  right  because  the  ani- 
mals had  to  go  two  by  two  into  the  Ark,  and  if 
there  was  only  one  Phoenix,  Noah  wouldn't  have 
let  him  in  till  he  got  another,  and  as  there  wasn't 
another  to  get,  he  had  to  stay  out,  and  everything 
that  stayed  out,  died.  For  feathers  of  the  Phoenix, 
see  next  page." 

Wondering  what  in  the  wide  world  the  feathers 
of  the  Phoenix  could  be  like,  Perry  turned  eagerly 
to  the  next  page.  There  his  father  had  drawn 
two  long  feathers  and  under  them  had  written : 

"  Feathers  of  the  Phoenix.  In  Tradescant's 
Museum,  in  Italy." 

"  But,"  said  Perry  aloud,  "  I  know  what  those 
feathers  are!  They're  from  the  Japanese  Long- 


38        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

tailed  Fowl!  I  don't  wonder  that  those  old  fel- 
lows thought  a  feather  eight  feet  long  must  come 
from  a  queer  kind  of  bird!  I  think  I'd  do  some 
guessing  myself!  ' 

Old  Sir  John  de  Mandeville,  that  joyous  trav- 
eler of  the  fourteenth  century,  was  responsible 
for  the  next  weird  beast.  This  was  a  combination 
of  an  eagle  and  a  lion.  Perry's  father  had  evi- 
dently drawn  it  from  a  crest  and  labeled  it  "  The 
Griffin,"  while  opposite  was  de  Mandeville 's  de- 
scription : 

"  Some  men  say  that  they  have  the  body  up- 
ward of  an  eagle  and  beneath,  of  a  lion;  and  that 
is  true.  But  one  Griffin  has  a  greater  body  and 
is  stronger  than  ten  lions,  and  greater  and  stronger 
than  a  hundred  eagles." 

"  I  should  think,"  commented  Perry  to  him- 
self, "  Father  could  have  seen  that  this  was  a 
fake,  because  a  Griffin  with  a  body  as  heavy  as 
ten  lions  would  have  to  have  wings  the  size  of 
an  armored  aeroplane. ' ' 

The  boy  had  hardly  framed  the  words,  when 
turning  the  page,  he  saw  some  birds  pictured, 
which  made  the  largest  modern  flying  machine 
seem  small.  In  the  distance  was  one  of  these  huge 
birds  flying  away  with  an  elephant  in  its  beak. 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     39 

Near  by,  a  man  in  turban  and  robe  was  tying  him- 
self to  the  claw  of  one  of  the  birds,  the  creature 's 
leg  being  as  thick  as  the  trunk  of  a  big  tree.  This 
was  "  The  Eoc,"  and  Perry's  father  had  copied 
out  in  his  smallest  handwriting,  all  that  happened 
to  Sindbad  the  Sailor  and  the  Third  Calendar  in 
the  land  of  the  Eoc,  as  told  in  the  Arabian  Nights.. 

"  I  suppose,"  mused  Perry,  "  the  Eoc  is  just 
the  .ZEpyornis  exaggerated.  After  all,  it's  only 
the  other  day  that  somebody  found  an  -ZEpyornis 
egg  bobbing  up  and  down  on  the  waves  off  Mada- 
gascar after  a  hurricane  and  that  egg  was  nearly 
seven  times  as  big  as  an  ostrich  egg.  You  can't 
blame  a  fellow  in  Madagascar  several  centuries 
ago  figuring  that  a  bird  to  lay  an  egg  like  that 
must  be  seven  times  as  tall  as  an  ostrich.  My 
eye,  wouldn't  a  bird  over  fifty  feet  high  be  a  bogey ! 
And  yet  they  told  me  down  at  the  Museum  that 
an  -ZEpyornis  was  really  only  about  eleven  feet 
high." 

The  Basilisk  or  Cockatrice  was  the  next  wonder 
that  struck  the  boy's  gaze.  Evidently  his  father 
had  found  some  difficulty  in  securing  a  picture  of 
the  creature,  for  under  the  fantastic  drawing  were 
the  words: 

"  The  Basilisk.    This  one  I  made  up." 


40        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  monster  .resembled  a  serpent  walking  on 
its  tail,  in  grand  and  imposing  style,  with  two 
searchlights  for  eyes.  On  the  opposite  page  was 
a  quotation  from  John  Swan,  the  author  of  the 
curious  old  book  "  Speculum  Mundi  "  (A  Mirror 
of  the  World),  which  was  written  in  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  read: 

66  The  Cockatrice  is  the  king  of  Serpents,  not 
for  his  magnitude  or  greatness,  but  for  his  stately 
pace  and  magnanimous  mind.  Among  all  living 
creatures  there  is  none  perisheth  sooner  by  the 
poyson  of  a  Cockatrice  than  a  man;  for  with  his 
sight  he  killeth  him.  His  hissing  is  likewise  said 
to  be  bad,  in  regard  that  it  blasteth  trees,  killeth 
birds,  etc.,  by  poysoning  the  aire." 

Perry  turned  over  page  after  page.  He  saw 
the  picture  of  the  Humma,  the  bird  without  feet, 
that  was  supposed  never  to  alight  on  the  ground. 
There  was  a  drawing  of  the  Wak-Wak  tree  which 
had  beautiful  women  for  fruit.  The  Chimaera 
was  not  forgotten,  with  its  head  of  a  lion,  body 
of  a  goat,  and  tail  of  a  serpent. 

A  whole  section  of  the  faded  green  book  was 
given  to  the  monsters  who  were  half  men,  half 
beasts.  There  Perry  saw  his  old  friends  the  Cen- 
taurs, and  among  them  Cheiron,  "  wisest  of  beasts 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     41 

and  men,"  human  to  the  waist,  with  a  horse's 
body.  Pan,  playing  on  his  pipes  of  reed,  was 
sitting  on  a  fallen  tree-trunk,  while  goat-legged 
Satyrs  and  Fauns  danced  to  his  piping.  One  par- 
ticularly creepy  picture  showed  the  Gorgons,  with 
writhing  poisonous  snakes  in  place  of  hair,  whom, 
the  Greeks  believed,  it  was  death  to  look  upon, 
and  none  of  the  monsters  that  were  slain  by  Her- 
cules, Theseus,  and  Perseus  was  forgotten. 

Little  by  little  the  spell  of  the  old-time  won- 
derland began  to  creep  over  Perry.  At  first  these 
childish  drawings  of  monsters  had  seemed  impos- 
sible, but  earnest  belief  in  the  artist  always  re- 
veals itself  in  the  picture,  and  Perry's  father, 
when  a  boy,  had  believed  in  these  creatures  just 
as  did  the  ancient  Greeks.  The  spirit  of  the  boy 
who  had  fought  the  lynx,  believing  it  to  be  a 
dragon,  stirred  on  those  pages  and  quickened 
Perry's  blood. 

At  last  he  came  to  Unicorns.  Page  after  page 
of  unicorns!  The  boy  read  the  story  of  Verto- 
mannus  who  measured  two  unicorns  that  had  been 
presented  to  the  Sultan  of  Mecca  in  1503.  He 
learned  how  Father  Lobo,  a  missionary,  had 
chased  a  unicorn  in  Abyssinia  in  1622.  He  saw 
the  drawings  of  one-horned  asses  in  China  sent 


42        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

to  Eome  by  Grueber,  the  Jesuit  Father,  in  1661. 
From  utter  disbelief,  he  passed  to  doubt,  and  his 
doubt  received  a  sudden  shock  when  he  read  that 
the  Russian  naturalist  Prjevalsky,  in  his  book 
"  Mongolia,"  published  in  1876,  had  declared  that 
the  orongo,  in  northern  Thibet,  sometimes,  though 
rarely,  has  one  horn,  though  not  in  the  center  of 
the  forehead.  To  this  picture  there  was  a  note, 
in  his  father's  handwriting,  evidently  made  after 
he  was  grown  up.  It  read: 

"  Personally,  I  see  no  reason  to  deny  the  ex- 
istence of  the  unicorn.  It  is  quite  likely  that  oc- 
casional specimens  of  a  two-horned  animal  should 
only  have  one  horn.  The  narwhal  often  has  two 
tusks,  but  generally  only  one.  If  the  one-tusked 
narwhal  is  a  natural  development,  why  not  a  one- 
horned  antelope?  The  Nepalese  unicorn  sheep 
has  one  horn,  and  a  rhinoceros,  as  well." 

The  faded  green  book  dropped  into  Perry's  lap, 
as  he  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  thinking.  He  re- 
called the  finding  of  the  okapi,  only  a  few  years 
before,  and  his  mind  pictured  an  adventurous  trip 
into  Central  Thibet  where  the  one-horned  orongo 
of  Prjevalsky,  the  unicorn,  might  still  be  found. 
Deeper  and  more  profound  grew  the  day-dream, 
more  and  more  real  the  vision,  until,  with  a  start, 


THE  UNICORN^ IK  Ch$b*A..'-> « 

The  Sz,  or  Malayan  Rhinoceros,  a^  pictured  by  a  Chinese  artist  in  the 
'Rh  Ya.    The   Indian  Rhinoceros  -is  <ine-^0i1ied    '  Th 

square-lipped  rhinoceros,  or  r'wiiit3"rliiflO5M  thou^h^os^cssin 
two  horns,  one  behind  the  other,  has  the  forward  horn ' 
so  long  and  powerful  as  to  be  truly  unicorn-like, 
though  it  is  nasal  and  not  frontal. 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     43 

the  boy  found  himself  riding  at  full  speed  over 
a  coarse-ferned  swampy  plain. 

A  warm  and  steaming  mist  hung  with  a  dull 
purple  haze  over  a  landscape  that  seemed  familiar, 
though  the  boy  knew  that  his  eyes  had  never  seen 
it  before.  Huge  monkey-puzzles  thrust  their 
spiny  arms  into  the  heavy  air,  ferns  a  hundred 
feet  high  swayed  their  livid  green  tracery  against 
the  lowering  sky,  and  here  and  there  a  leafless 
pillar  twenty  feet  in  height  showed  where  still 
remained  a  struggling  horsetail  of  the  weird 
forests  of  the  age  before.  Over  all  hung  the  red 
ball  of  the  sun,  unable  to  pierce  the  low-hung  curl- 
ing wreaths  of  mist  which  held  the  landscape  like 
a  bowl. 

The  glow  of  the  half-obscured  sun  shone  dully 
on  the  quaking  bog  and  deepened  the  shadows 
of  huge  black  forms,  monstrous  and  menacing, 
which  seemed  to  be  sprawling  in  the  ebon  water. 
To  these,  there  was  no  shape,  although  their  gross 
inertness  breathed  of  life.  In  the  distance  there 
was  a  stir,  and  Perry,  gripping  his  knees  hard 
upon  the  Thing  he  rode,  cried  aloud  in  the  somber 
stillness — 

1  'What  moved!" 

No  sound  answered.     Silence  held  that  flower- 


44        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

less  world  like  a  vice,  that  world  that  had  never 
heard  the  song  of  a  bird,  but  a  rumbling  vibration 
in  the  distance  seemed  to  the  boy  like  some  vast 
leviathan  stirring  in  its  sleep.  Sure  was  he  that 
he  saw  one  of  those  sprawling  shapes — which,  near 
by,  seemed  like  stone — heave  itself  upward  and 
sway  a  monstrous  neck.  Straight  in  his  path,  one 
of  the  murky  masses  lay,  huge  as  though  the  earth 
had  spawned  a  creature  vaster  than  a  whale.  In 
panic,  Perry  forced  the  Thing  that  carried  him  to 
swerve  to  the  left.  As  he  raced  by,  the  boy  forced 
himself  to  look  at  the  sprawling  bulk.  Shapeless 
and  moveless  as  a  block  of  stone  it  lay.  But 
when,  a  second  later,  some  impulse  moved  the  lad 
to  turn  his  head  back  to  look  again,  the  seeming 
stone  had  lurched  itself  across  his  path  as  though 
to  bar  any  returning  way. 

"With  a  shiver,  the  boy's  glance  turned  to  the 
creature  that  he  rode.  Its  horse-like  head  and 
short,  coarse  mane  gave  a  clue  that  its  light  limbs 
and  four  spreading  toes  seemed  to  deny. 

He  was  nearly  thrown  to  the  ground  as  the 
Thing  shied,  then  reared,  nearly  on  its  haunches. 
And  Perry,  looking  to  see  the  cause  of  fear,  dis- 
tinctly saw  a  quiver  run  over  another  monstrous 
mass  immediately  before  him,  like  the  rippling 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     45 

muscles  on  the  back  of  a  black  panther  about  to 
spring.  He  drove  his  heels  into  his  steed. 

"  They're  waking, "  he  cried  hoarsely.  "  IVe 
only  got  until  the  sun  goes  down !  ' ' 

Through  the  humid  swamp,  spotted  with  its 
foul  giant  brood,  that  moved,  yet  never  seemed 
to  move,  he  rode,  panic  knocking  at  his  ribs.  The 
sinking  sun  bore  down  with  it  his  hopes,  and  as  the 
shadows  grew  more  slanting,  the  sense  of  silent 
life  around  him  grew  more  threatening.  A  breeze 
with  a  tang  of  cold  in  it  swept  over  the  swamp 
and  the  grip  of  danger  tightened.  Now,  in  the 
distance,  the  masses  could  be  seen  to  drag  their 
slow  length  along,  but  near  at  hand,  all  was  still. 

"  They're  only  waiting, "  he  thought,  "  waiting 
for  the  dusk." 

From  under  a  huge  flat  block  that  bore  a  fair 
resemblance  to  a  giant  tortoise-shell,  a  wicked 
head  with  lidless  green  eyes  and  a  turtle  beak 
darted  out. 

The  animal  he  bestrode  leaped  as  though  a  snake 
had  struck.  And,  with  the  leap  came  a  new  thing. 
Even  as  the  boy  watched,  the  rough  mane  dwindled 
and  a  smooth  red-brown  coat  glinted  in  the  dark- 
ening sun.  The  neck  grew  longer  and  more  pliant 
and  the  swift  lumbering  gallop  gave  place  to  the 


46        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

leaping  bounds  of  some  creature  that  man  had 
never  ridden  before.  Perry's  only  thought  was 
to  go  on — on — no  matter  what  he  rode,  to  go  on 
— and  out  of  that  swamp  where  the  monstrous 
reptiles  were.  But  the  strangeness  of  the  marvel 
held  him  when  he  saw  in  the  center  of  the  fore- 
head of  the  Thing,  just  in  front  of  the  ears,  a 
gleam  of  white  like  a  milk-tooth. 

"  It's — it's  a  horn,"  he  muttered. 

The  sun  touched  the  rim  of  the  horizon.  At 
the  same  instant,  with  a  sucking  sound,  the  vast 
bulk  of  a  Diplodocus  squirmed  up  from  the  slough 
and  poised  its  ungainly  head,  as  though  to  see. 
A  leaping  Compsognathus  loomed  black  against 
the  sky.  Noiseless,  but  menacing,  a  winged  Pte- 
ranodon,  twenty-one  feet  from  tip  to  tip  of  wing, 
soared  heavily  above  him.  A  pigmy  in  a  world  of 
giant  monsters,  the  boy  raced  on,  speeding  from 
— he  knew  not  what,  to — he  knew  not  whither. 

The  sense  of  terror  from  the  monstrous  brood 
became  more  keen  as  a  closer  peril  grew.  His 
knees  ached  almost  beyond  endurance  from  the 
strain  of  trying  to  keep  his  seat,  for  no  horseman- 
ship could  avail  upon  such  a  steed  as  that  which 
he  was  riding.  The  long  jerking  leaps,  though 
they  covered  ground  amazingly,  seemed  to  drag 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE    47 

him  inside  out  at  every  stride.  The  red-brown 
neck  stretched  far  ahead,  and  gleaming  in  the  dull- 
red  dusk  jutted  the  single  horn,  spirally  twisted 
like  a  kudu's  and  lengthening  even  as  he  looked 
at  it. 

Suddenly,  without  an  instant's  warning,  the 
beast  threw  back  his  head.  The  gleaming  horn 
jerked  to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  boy.  The  lad 
paled. 

11  Next  time—"  he  said. 

What  could  he  do  next  time? 

Without  pausing,  the  Thing  sped  on,  racing  like 
the  wind  over  a  mountainless  world,  so  that  Perry 
did  not  dare  throw  himself  off  its  back.  Lower 
sank  the  sun,  till  only  one-half  of  its  orb  was  seen, 
its  beams  lying  level  over  the  plain  that  saw  never 
a  hill  over  its  thousand  miles  of  length.  Worst  of 
all,  instead  of  the  kinship  between  steed  and  rider 
that  gives  strength  in  the  most  desperate  pursuit, 
he  felt  the  malevolence  of  the  evil  thing  he  be- 
strode, and  tried  to  brace  his  nerve  against  an 
attack  from  his  sole  means  of  escape  from  this 
browsing  ground  of  swollen  reptiles. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  mid-leap,  the  crea- 
ture checked  its  speed,  plunging  stiff-legged,  at 
the  same  time  tossed  back  its  now  long  and 


48        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

twisted  horn  to  pierce  him  to  the  vitals.  Tense 
for  the  spring,  Perry  thrust  himself  upwards  from 
the  knees,  the  sudden  stoppage  throwing  him  over 
the  creature's  head.  Well  he  knew  that  if  he  fell 
on  the  ground  sharp  hoof  and  sharper  horn  would 
pin  him  to  the  earth.  He  grabbed  the  horn  as 
it  slid  under  him,  and  clung  to  it  like  death. 

In  fury,  the  unicorn  tossed  him  as  a  terrier 
does  a  rat.  The  boy  felt  his  hold  weakening,  but 
he  clung  desperately.  Sight  and  hearing  failed 
him,  yet  he  clutched  blindly,  till  with  a  wrench 
the  strained  finger-clasp  gave  way  and  he  found 
himself  flying  through  the  air.  Fortune  favored 
him.  He  landed  on  his  feet,  and  though  he  stag- 
gered, he  did  not  actually  fall.  The  second's  re- 
covery sufficed  to  clear  his  wits,  and  he  dodged 
as  the  vicious  creature  lunged.  Before  him 
loomed  the  vast  bulk  of  a  Brontosaurus  and  be- 
hind this  he  ran,  trusting  for  safety  to  the  small 
brain  and  sluggish  movements  of  the  giant. 

The  ruse  almost  landed  him  into  the  jaws  of 
the  nose-horned  lizard,  the  carnivorous  Cerato- 
saurus,  twenty  feet  in  height,  and  he  doubled  back, 
actually  under  its  fore-limbs,  as  its  large  head 
and  formidable  flesh-tearing  teeth  threatened  the 
unicorn,  which  reared  and  refused  the  combat. 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     49 

The  moment's  respite  as  the  monsters  faced  each 
other,  gave  Perry  a  chance  to  breathe. 

"  Where  now?  "  he  gasped,  glancing  round 
wildly  for  some  place  to  hide. 

But,  in  that  flat  expanse,  with  the  araucarias 
and  tree-ferns  only  a  green  blur  in  the  distance, 
there  was  no  cover.  The  unicorn  saw  him  and 
charged  again.  Some  strange  instinct  told  him 
what  to  do.  Again  doubling  around  the  huge 
dinosaur,  the  boy  cast  himself  despairingly  on 
the  back  of  a  creature  browsing  a  few  feet  away. 

"Up!  "  he  yelled. 

As  though  impelled  by  the  terror  in  the  boy's 
voice,  or  by  the  still  greater  terror  of  sound  in 
that  silent  world,  the  light-limbed  Anchisaurus 
rose  to  its  kangaroo-like  attitude  and  began  clum- 
sily to  run.  Some  twenty  feet  of  start  was  gained 
before  the  unicorn  caught  sight  of  him  and  then 
the  chase  began.  The  Anchisaurus,  more  terri- 
fied even  than  the  boy  by  this  strange  creature 
clinging  to  its  neck,  and  driven  on  by  the  gleaming 
horn  behind,  leaped  into  full  stride,  covering  ten 
feet  at  every  step.  If  the  gallop  of  the  unicorn 
had  been  hard  to  bear,  this  swaying  run  was  worse, 
for,  as  the  Anchisaurus  swung  first  one  foot  then 
the  other,  the  neck  and  tail  rolled  to  the  oppo- 


50        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

site  side  to  maintain  the  creature's  balance.  No 
cockle  shell  on  a  stormy  sea  ever  tossed  as  did 
Perry  on  the  Anchisaurus'  neck.  But  it  was  his 
only  chance  of  safety  from  that  gleaming  horn 
behind,  and  tightly  with  arms  and  legs  he  gripped 
the  creature's  neck  above  the  shoulder. 

The  sun  was  nearly  down,  but  a  slight,  a  very 
slight  rise  in  the  ground  gave  firmer  footing,  both 
to  unicorn  and  Anchisaurus,  so  the  speed  of  both 
increased.  Little  by  little  the  lumbering  saurians 
began  to  grow  fewer  and  at  last  were  seen  no 
more.  In  their  place  came  spiny  lizards,  at  first 
few  in  number,  then  more  and  more,  huge  and 
monstrous,  until  in  the  dim  twilight  and  the  sil- 
ver glow  of  the  rising  moon,  their  threatening 
shapes  seemed  like  a  world  of  jagged  rocks  heav- 
ing as  the  billows  of  a  tempest-whipped  lake. 

Then,  as  though  determined  to  give  battle  to 
its  strange  pursuer,  the  Anchisaurus  stopped,  and 
Perry,  fearing  that  his  strange  mount  would  find 
some  swift  accounting  for  his  temerity,  slipped 
off,  again  to  face  the  unicorn. 

There  was  no  need. 

Between  him  and  the  savage  beast  that  had 
chased  him  for  miles  over  the  swamp  stood  an  old 
battle-scarred  Stegosaurus,  fully  twenty  feet  in 


MONSTERS  THAT  NEVER  WERE     51 

length,  its  spines  jutting  into  the  air  far  above 
the  boy's  head.  As  he  looked,  the  armored  tail, 
with  its  jagged,  horny  plates,  lashed  out  at  the 
unicorn  and  felled  it  to  the  ground.  The  beast 
half  tried  to  rise  and  lunged  its  horn,  white  in 
the  moonlight,  at  the  throat  of  its  terrible  foe. 
But  no  weapon  could  pierce  that  living  fortress 
of  defense  and  the  horn  slipped  uselessly  over  the 
scales. 

The  head  of  the  Stegosaurus — so  tiny  for  so 
great  a  bulk  of  body — bent  as  though  to  smell  the 
wounded  creature  that  the  blow  of  his  tail  had 
crushed,  but,  not  being  an  eater  of  flesh,  the  huge 
living  fortress  turned  scornfully  away. 

Injured,  but  not  mortally,  the  unicorn  half  rose, 
when  Perry,  seizing  his  chance,  drew  from  his  belt 
his  hunting-knife  and  slit  the  creature's  throat. 

Then,  placing  one  foot  on  the  body  of  the  ani- 
mal, he  cried  aloud — the  faded  green  book  flutter- 
ing from  his  lap  as  he  sprang  up — 

"I've  caught  a  unicorn!  " 


CHAPTEE  III 

PIBATES  OF   THE  AIR 

PERRY'S  father,  whose  entrance  had  awakened 
the  boy,  looked  quizzically  at  the  lad  as  he  stood 
rubbing  the  sleep  out  of  his  eyes. 

*'  I  don't  know  about  catching  a  unicorn,"  the 
old  merchant  said,  with  more  than  a  trace  of 
amused  understanding  in  his  tone,  "  but  there's 
a  big  chance  that  you've  caught  a  cold!  You'd 
better  get  to  bed,  son,  just  about  as  quickly  as  you 
know  how.  Then  you  can  go  ahead  and  catch  all 
the  unicorns  you  want." 

The  boy  looked  a  little  shame-faced  at  having 
disclosed  the  fact  that  he  had  fallen  asleep  and 
had  dreamed  of  the  monsters  on  which  his  mind 
had  been  set,  but  his  father  put  his  hand  on  the 
lad's  shoulder,  and  said  kindly: 

"  We'll  talk  about  this  again  some  other  time, 
Perry,  and  if  you  really  feel  that  you  want  to 
take  up  a  fossil-hunter's  life,  I'll  not  put  any- 
thing in  your  way.  I  had  hoped — "  he  added  re- 

52 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  53 

gretfully,  "  that  you  would  come  right  into  my 
business,  but  after  all,  every  tub  must  stand  on 
its  own  bottom.  If  you  do  go  into  the  scientific 
work,  I'll  at  least  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
some  of  my  own  old  dreams  coming  true,  even 
though  at  second-hand.  Slip  along  to  bed,  now, 
lad." 

Still  only  half-awake,  Perry  made  some  indis- 
tinct reply,  undressed  and  in  a  few  minutes  was 
fast  asleep,  this  time  too  soundly  even  to  dream 
of  monsters,  until  the  light  of  a  morning  that  had 
forgotten  those  ancient  times,  woke  him  to  the 
interests  of  a  new  day.  It  did  occur  to  him, 
though,  as  he  was  dressing,  that  the  sun  as  it  rose 
that  morning  had  risen  just  the  same,  thousands 
of  years  ago,  and  would  rise  the  same  way  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  years  hence,  and  he  won- 
dered what  kind  of  creatures  would  be  living  on 
the  earth  then. 

By  tacit  consent,  nothing  was  said  at  the  break- 
fast table  concerning  the  subject  that  had  been  dis- 
cussed the  night  before,  for  Perry's  mother  was 
inclined  to  jump  to  conclusions  and  it  was  an 
understood  thing  in  the  household  that  the  best 
time  to  inform  her  about  anything  that  was  new 
was  after  it  had  been  decided  and  settled.  So 


54        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Perry  started  off  for  school,  just  as  usual,  and 
for  over  a  week  he  kept  his  ambitions  to  himself. 

One  Saturday  morning,  however,  at  breakfast- 
time,  his  father  said  to  him: 

"  Perry,  if  youVe  nothing  better  to  do,  you 
might  walk  down  with  me  to  the  office  this  morn- 
ing." 

"  Sure !  ' '  the  lad  replied  gladly,  for  these  Satur- 
day morning  walks  were  a  great  pleasure  to  him. 
The  old  financier  always  had  his  car  come  round 
to  the  door  sharp  at  8:30  in  the  morning,  but  if 
the  day  were  fine,  it  was  his  custom  to  dismiss 
the  chauffeur  and  to  take  the  three  miles  to  his 
office  at  a  brisk  walk.  He  was  a  good  walker  and 
had  trained  Perry  to  keep  up  a  lively  pace.  This 
morning,  as  soon  as  they  had  struck  their  gait, 
the  merchant  said  to  his  son : 

"  I  had  a  letter  from  your  Uncle  George  last 
night. " 

"  Uncle  George?  "  repeated  the  boy,  question- 
ingly. 

"  Yes." 

"  Was  it—"  Perry  hesitated. 

"  About  you?  "  interpolated  his  father.  "  Yes, 
it  was." 

"  Oh,  Father,  what  did  he  say?  " 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  55 

"  I  had  asked  him  about  his  proposed  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt,  and  especially  I  wanted  to  find  out 
when  he  planned  to  start." 

"  And  he's  going  soon?  " 

"  Two  weeks  from  Monday." 

The  boy  was  aching  to  hurl  a  series  of  ques- 
tions at  his  father,  to  bombard  him  with  them, 
but  experience  had  taught  him  not  to  show  im- 
patience. Trying  to  hold  himself  in  check,  there- 
fore, he  said,  only : 

"  Is  he  going  for  the  Museum  I  " 

I  '  Yes.    He  wrote  me  that  he  is  anxious  to  trace 
the  ancestry  of  the  elephants.    It  appears  that 
we  don't  yet  know  where  the  elephants  came  from, 
and  we  don't  know  exactly  from  what  kind  of  a 
beast  the  elephant  developed.    The  British  have 
done  a  little  work  along  that  line  in  lower  Egypt, 
but  for  the  time  being,  they  have  given  up  excavat- 
ing and  the  Museum  has  secured  permission  from 
the  British  Government  to  explore  the  Fayum." 

"  Uncle  George  will  find  whatever  there  is  to 
find,"  Perry  asserted  confidently. 

"  Perhaps,"  his  father  rejoined,  smiling,  "  you 
may  be  the  one  to  do  the  finding." 

"  Me?  " 

II  Why  not?  " 


56        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Oh,  Father,  then  I'm  really  going?  " 

"  Do  you  want  to  go  so  much?  " 

For  an  instant  the  boy  was  tongue-tied,  for  it 
came  over  him  with  a  rush  that  all  his  boyhood 
dreams  were  about  to  be  realized.  Then  he  burst 
out  with : 

61  Want  to  go,  Father?    I'm  wild  to  go !  " 

"  "Well,  then,"  the  other  answered  with  mock 
resignation,  "  I  suppose  we'll  have  to  arrange  it. 
It's  true,  son,  that  your  uncle  seems  to  think  the 
idea  of  your  joining  the  expedition  is  a  bit  fool- 
ish. He  says  you're  too  young  to  know  what 
you're  about  and  not  strong  enough  to  be  of  any 
use  to  the  expedition. ' ' 

"  But — "  began  Perry,  interrupting. 

"  On  the  other  hand,"  continued  his  father,  not 
heeding  the  interruption,  "  he  says  he'll  give  you 
every  chance  to  learn,  though  he  appears  to  dis- 
count nearly  everything  I  said  about  your  knowl- 
edge of  fossils  and  of  paleontology  in  general. 
I  don't  know,  but  perhaps  I  did  lay  it  on  a  bit  thick. 
So  it'll  be  up  to  you,  son,  to  make  good  my 
words." 

1 1  You  bet  I  '11  do  everything  I  can, ' '  declared  the 
lad  excitedly.  "  Have  I  got  a  regular  appoint- 
ment, Father?  " 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  57 

"  You  have  not,"  was  the  emphatic  reply. 
"  Museum  authorities  don't  appoint  boys  to  offi- 
cial positions  on  a  scientific  expedition,  even  when 
they're  as  lanky  and  overgrown  as  you.  A  man 
has  got  to  be  a  simon-pure  expert  before  he  can 
get  a  Museum  appointment,  and  even  then,  he's 
got  to  work  up  through  an  assistantship.  No,  my 
boy,  you're  just  accompanying  your  uncle  and 
I'm  footing  the  bill. 

"  I  Ve  always  been  willing  to  hand  out  cash  freely 
for  the  scientific  work  of  the  Museum  and  I  had 
sent  a  cheque  for  five  thousand  to  the  fund  for  this 
very  expedition,  before  you  had  said  anything  to 
me  about  your  Patagonia  idea.  That  subscription 
helped,  to  a  certain  extent,  but  even  so  I  don't  be- 
lieve I  could  have  persuaded  the  Director  to  let 
you  go  along  unless  he  was  convinced  that  you 
were  a  promising  young  paleontologist.  You 
know  I  was  away  last  week!" 

"  Yes." 

' i  I  went  to  New  York  to  see  the  Director  of 
the  American  Museum  about  you.  One  of  your 
friends — an  assistant  curator,  who  knows  our  Di- 
rector down  here — spoke  up  in  your  favor." 

"  I  can  guess  who  that  was!  " 

"  Maybe,  but  you  won't  find  out  from  me." 


58        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  financier  laughed.  "  The  American  Museum 
director  had  to  have  his  little  joke,  of  course,"  he 
continued.  "  Do  you  know  what  he  told  me — 

"  '  Mr.  Hunt,'  he  said,  and  his  eye  had  a  twinkle 
Fve  seen  there  several  times,  *  a  precocity  in 
paleontology  is  a  species  new  to  me.' 

"  Of  course,  Perry,  I  had  to  back  water  a  bit." 

"  You  needn't  have,  Father,"  protested  Perry. 
"  I  don't  want  to  brag,  but  I'll  just  show  him!  " 

"  That's  the  right  spirit,  my  son,"  replied  the 
other,  "  but  you've  a  long  road  to  travel.  I  went 
just  far  enough  along  that  road  myself  to  see  what 
a  long  journey  it  is."  For  a  moment  the  count- 
ing-room and  the  figures  and  the  complexities  of 
modern  business  life  faded  away  from  the  old 
financier's  mind  and  he  looked  forward  unseeingly 
and  reminiscently.  "  I'd  have  liked  to  have  gone 
on  with  it,"  he  added,  "  but  other  things  came  be- 
tween." 

Perry  kept  silent  a  minute  or  two,  then  said, 
with  boyish  gentleness : 

"  We'll  be  in  on  it  together,  Father,  anyway. 
And  I  feel  great  about  it,  really." 

"  Of  course  we'll  be  in  on  it  together,  as  you 
put  it,"  the  other  said,  shaking  himself  free  of 
memories,  "  and  you'll  have  to  make  a  record  for 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  59 

yourself  out  there.  It's  a  good  thing  for  you  that 
you're  so  far  ahead  in  your  school  work." 

Perry  looked  up  surprisedly. 

"  How's  that?  "  he  asked. 

His  father  smiled  quietly. 

"I  saw  your  headmaster  the  other  day,"  he 
answered.  "  You  don't  suppose  you'd  have  had 
any  chance  to  go  if  I  found  that  you  had  been 
neglecting  your  school  work  during  the  winter, 
do  you?  " 

66  But  the  exams?  " 

"  Are  all  arranged.  The  headmaster  said  your 
term  marks  were  high  enough  to  let  an  average 
examination  pass  you  easily.  The  questions  are 
to  be  given  me  in  a  sealed  envelope,  I  shall  hand 
them  to  your  uncle,  and  at  some  convenient  time, 
probably  on  board  ship,  you're  to  do  the  exams 
and  your  uncle  will  forward  them  to  the  school 
with  a  letter  saying  that  they  were  done  in  his 
presence  and  without  any  assistance  from  him.  A 
certain  percentage  is  to  be  taken  off  for  irregu- 
larity, but  unless  you  fall  down  hopelessly  on  the 
papers,  I  feel  sure  that  you  will  pass  for  the  year. ' ' 

"  You've  thought  of  everything,  Father,"  re- 
joined the  boy,  gratefully. 

"  Well,  son,"  was  the  response,  "  it's  up  to  you 


60        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

to  make  the  most  of  it.  The  arrangements  are  a 
little  sudden,  but  you  can  be  ready  in  a  couple 
of  weeks,  can't  you?  " 

"  I  could  be  ready  in  half  an  hour,"  Perry  ex- 
claimed enthusiastically. 

"  That's  rather  precipitate,"  his  father  com- 
mented, as  they  turned  into  the  street  leading  to 
the  office,  near  the  corner  where  the  two  generally 
parted,  "  we  won't  ask  anything  as  rapid  as  that. 
But  two  weeks  from  to-day,  you're  to  start  for 
New  York,  and  there  you'll  board  the  steamer  for 
the  Mediterranean.  It's  a  great  chance  for  you, 
my  boy." 

During  those  two  weeks  Perry  walked  on  air. 
He  was  the  envy  of  all  his  boy  chums  and  by  the 
time  he  was  ready  to  start  he  had  been  asked  for 
so  many  fossil  remains  by  his  boy  friends  (who 
didn't  know  whether  a  Mosasaurus  was  the  size 
of  a  sparrow  or  a  whale)  that  he  would  have  had 
to  discover  a  prehistoric  cemetery  in  order  to  ful- 
fill all  the  requests.  But  the  boy  had  been  thor- 
oughly trained  not  to  make  promises  he  could 
not  keep,  and  thus  he  saved  himself  from  many  an 
awkward  refusal  later. 

When  the  fated  day  came  round,  when  he  had 
seen  his  pith  helmet  and  other  parts  of  his  tropi- 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  61 

cal  outfit  safely  packed,  Perry  was  so  excited  that 
he  could  hardly  talk,  and  his  farewells  were  little 
more  than  stammering  interjections.  His  mother 
was  disappointed,  for  she  expected  some  evidence 
of  emotion,  but  the  old  merchant  knew  boy  nature 
better  and  was  well  pleased  over  the  lad's  eager- 
ness to  be  off.  Indeed,  despite  his  years,  the 
financier  envied  his  son  and  would  have  liked  noth- 
ing better  than  to  have  been  able  to  jump  aboard 
the  train  with  him.  But  he  contented  himself 
with  a  hearty  handshake — quite  a  grown-up  one, 
purposely — and  stepped  into  his  motor-car  re- 
signedly, as  the  departing  train  rounded  a  distant 
curve. 

As  the  through  express  thundered  past  station 
after  station,  Perry  had  one  swift  pang  of  regret 
to  think  of  the  school  commencement  and  the 
games  he  would  miss,  but  when  he  thought  of  what 
was  ahead  of  him,  the  thrill  of  doing  real  things 
came  over  him  like  a  tornado  and  swept  aside  all 
thoughts  of  school.  That  his  learning  was  not 
over,  but  only  just  beginning,  he  thoroughly 
realized,  for  along  this  line  had  been  his  father's 
parting  words: 

"  In  some  fields,  son,"  he  had  said  to  Perry, 
* '  you  can  succeed  by  making  a  bluff,  but  in  scien- 


62        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

tific  work  you've  got  to  know,  and  to  know  that 
you  know.  Science  is  real  and  big,  all  the  way 
through. ' ' 

Dr.  Hunt  met  the  boy  at  the  New  York  terminal. 
Although  uncle  and  nephew  knew  each  other  in 
the  vague  way  that  relatives  do,  neither  had  ever 
thought  of  the  other  as  taking  a  place  in  his  life, 
and  each  anticipated  the  meeting  with  great  inter- 
est. 

The  professor's  first  thought  was  that  the  boy 
looked  rugged  and  sturdy,  and  Perry's  first 
thought  was  that  there  was  far  more  of  command 
in  his  uncle's  manner  than  he  remembered.  Re- 
calling his  father's  advice  against  "  bluffing," 
Perry  was  careful  in  his  statements  as  he  chatted 
with  his  uncle  on  the  way  to  the  steamer  and  con- 
sequently gave  a  favorable  impression. 

"  Your  father  tells  me  you  know  considerable 
paleontology,"  said  the  leader  of  the  expedition. 

"  I've  always  been  keen  on  fossils,"  the  boy 
replied,  "  and  so  I've  managed  to  pick  up  little 
bits  about  it.  But  of  course  I  haven't  really  stud- 
ied ;  not  the  way  I  hope  to,  some  day. ' ' 

"  You  know  your  geological  periods,  I  sup- 
pose? " 

"  Backwards!  "  replied  Perry  confidently,  for 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  63 

lie  knew  that  he  really  did  know  them,  and  his 
friend  in  the  Museum  had  taught  him  to  see  how 
important  was  this  groundwork  in  any  fossil  stud- 
ies that  he  might  do.  So,  when  his  uncle,  in  a  few 
sharp  questions,  put  him  on  the  rack,  Perry  came 
out  of  the  ordeal  well,  because  he  had  only  claimed 
to  know  exactly  the  things  he  did  know.  As  a  re- 
sult, he  won  from  the  accurate  and  careful  scien- 
tist the  golden  opinion: 

"  I  shouldn't  be  surprised,  lad,  if  we  made  a 
paleontologist  out  of  you,  after  all." 

To  an  inland  boy,  such  as  Perry,  every  detail 
of  the  steamer  was  of  interest.  Some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  expedition,  who  had  rather  dreaded 
the  idea  of  a  boy  as  a  member  of  their  party, 
were  most  cordial  to  the  lad  when  he  showed  him- 
self at  the  same  time  quiet  and  eager  to  learn. 
To  one  of  the  younger  men,  Antoine  Marcq,  a  Bel- 
gian scientist,  Perry  was  especially  attracted,  and 
they  chummed  up  right  away.  Antoine  told  him 
that  he  had  a  young  brother,  about  Perry's  age. 
The  Belgian  proved  a  most  delightful  companion, 
full  of  stories  and  with  a  true  scientific  imagina- 
tion. Until  the  steamer  drew  clear  of  the  harbor 
and  began  to  meet  the  bobbles  of  a  choppy  sea, 
he  regaled  the  lad  with  adventures  from  ports 


64        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

all  over  the  world,  all  of  which,  it  seemed  from 
his  yarns,  he  had  visited  at  some  time  or  other. 
But  the  afore-mentioned  bobbles  gave  the  ship  a 
wriggling  motion  of  which  the  boy,  at  first  slightly, 
then  seriously,  disapproved,  and  for  the  next  cou- 
ple of  days  even  Antoine's  yarns  lost  their  inter- 
est. It  was  the  lad's  first  sea  voyage. 

The  first  morning  that  he  got  over  his  sea-sick- 
ness sufficiently  to  eat  a  hearty  breakfast,  which 
was  the  third  day  out,  the  lad's  attention  was  at- 
tracted to  a  large  gull  which  was  swooping  in  cir- 
cles about  the  masthead.  He  pointed  to  it. 

"What  is  that,  Antoinel  "  he  asked.  "  A 
booby!  " 

For  he  remembered  having  read  somewhere 
about  a  booby  having  been  the  name  of  a  sea-bird 
and  the  word  had  stuck  in  his  memory. 

"  A  booby,  oh  no,  oh  no,"  said  Antoine,  with  a 
doubling  of  the  negative  that  was  a  marked  char- 
acteristic in  his  speech,  "  no  booby  as  far  north 
as  this !  It  is  one  of  the  sea-gulls,  a  black-backed 
gull." 

' '  I  thought  all  birds  that  flew  over  the  sea  were 
sea-gulls,"  remarked  Perry. 

"  Not  at  all,  not  at  all,"  replied  the  other.  "  I 
show  you  in  a  minute."  He  paused.  "  See?  " 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  6$ 

lie  added,  pointing  to  a  bird  a  little  smaller  than 
the  gull  that  had  attracted  Perry's  attention. 
"  That  is  a  cousin  of  the  '  booby.'  It  is  a  gannet. 
If  you  look,  you  can  see  that  his  neck  is  longer 
and  that  his  chest  looks  different  from  the  black- 
backed  gull.  That  is  because  he  has  a  long  breast- 
bone and  the  ribs  are  set  in  at  a  different  angle,  so, 
when  he  plunges  into  the  water  with  a  big  splash 
after  a  fish,  he  does  not  hurt  himself  when  he  hits 
the  water.  You  can  dive?  ' 

"  Oh,  yes,"  answered  Perry,  "  I'm  quite  a  de- 
cent swimmer." 

"  You  know  that  when  you  dive,  if  you  hit  the 
water  '  smack,'  it  hurts?  " 

"  You  bet  it  does." 

6 1  The  gannet  drops  suddenly,  and  so  the  pointed 
breastbone  does  for  the  diving  bird  what  you  do 
when  you  put  your  hands  in  front  of  you.  It 
divides  the  water." 

"  That  ought  to  make  them  good  fish-catchers, 
I  should  think." 

"  The  very  best,  the  very  best,"  agreed  An- 
toine.  "  The  gannet  is  a  relative  of  the  cormo- 
rant, and  you  know  the  Chinese  train  the  cormo- 
rants to  go  and  fish  for  them." 

"  And  bring  back  the  fish?  " 


66        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Yes,  yes." 

66 1  should  think  the  cormorant  would  eat  the 
fish  himself. " 

"  No,  no,  he  cannot.  The  Chinese  put  a  ring 
around  the  bottom  of  his  neck  so  that  he  cannot 
swallow." 

"  That's  a  great  scheme,"  the  boy  commented. 
"  But  why  doesn't  the  cormorant  fly  away?  " 

"  He  is  trained.  Why  doesn't  your  dog  run 
away?  " 

"  Training,  I  guess,"  agreed  Perry  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause.  "  But  a  big  bird  seems  different, 
somehow.  How  do  they  train  them,  Antoine?  " 

"  This  way.  They  take  the  eggs  of  the  cormo- 
rant, and  set  them  to  hatch  under  a  hen." 

"  The  ordinary  hen — "  interrupted  the  boy. 

"  Yes,  yes,  the  hen.  As  soon  as  the  little 
cormorants  are  big  enough  to  feed,  they  take  them 
to  a  pond  where  there  are  a  lot  of  small  fish.  They 
tie  a  string  to  one  leg  of  the  bird.  When  a  cormo- 
rant catches  a  fish,  the  trainer  whistles  very  loudly 
and  then  pulls  in  the  bird  by  the  string.  He  takes 
the  fish  and  lets  him  go  again.  After  a  little  time, 
when  the  bird  hears  the  whistle,  he  comes  back 
to  the  boat.  It  is  pleasanter  to  swim  back  or 
to  fly  back  than  to  be  tugged  by  a  string. 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  67 

"  When  the  bird  is  big,  they  take  him  to  the 
sea  and  he  catches  the  fish,  returning  to  the  boat 
at  the  whistle.  He  cannot  swallow  the  fish  be- 
cause of  the  ring.  At  the  end  of  the  day  the  cor- 
morant gets  all  the  fish  he  has  caught  that  are 
not  good  for  the  market,  and  he  keeps  on  catch- 
ing all  the  day  long  because  he  is  always  hungry." 

"  Somebody  ought  to  start  a  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Birds, "  put  in  Perry 
with  a  grin. 

"  Why?  It  does  not  hurt  the  cormorant.  He 
gets  plenty  to  eat.  It  is  not  cruelty  to  make  a 
bird  work,  any  more  than  to  make  a  horse  work. 
But  if  you  want  to  see  something  in  Nature  that 
is  like  a  bully,  look  there!  " 

The  young  scientist  pointed  over  the  port  quar- 
ter of  the  steamer,  where  a  flock  of  terns  was 
wheeling  and  dipping. 

"  What  are  those?  "  the  boy  queried. 

"  Terns,"  the  other  answered.  "  Very  much 
like  gulls,  only  that  they  are  slenderer  and  have 
forked  tails." 

"  I  don't  see  anything  wrong  there,"  continued 
Perry  after  he  had  observed  the  merry  bustle  and 
excitement.  "  They  seem  rather  jolly  little 
chaps." 


68        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  other  pointed  a  long  accusing  finger  a  little 
to  the  right  of  the  flock. 

There,  flying  as  straight  as  an  arrow  shot  from 
a  bow,  with  a  steady  swift  flight  came  a  dark  and 
resolute-looking  bird.  Into  that  flock  of  terns  he 
plunged,  like  a  rakish  pirate  schooner  cutting  her 
path  amid  a  fleet  of  white-sailed  pleasure  boats. 

In  the  center  of  the  flock  of  birds  he  stopped, 
poised.  The  whirling  of  the  terns  had  become 
more  agitated  and  their  hoarse  shrieks  betrayed 
their  terror.  Then,  it  seemed  that  the  intruder 
had  picked  out  a  victim,  for  with  a  sudden  swirl 
he  darted  at  a  tern  that  had  wheeled  up  from  the 
surface  of  the  ocean  a  minute  before.  The  tern, 
light  and  agile,  dodged  and  sped  hither  and 
hither,  gliding,  mounting,  doubling,  with  the  dark 
stranger  ever  behind  him,  apparently  eager  to  tear 
him  to  pieces.  At  last,  believing  that  the  venge- 
ful creature  behind  him  could  not  be  shaken  off, 
in  one  last  final  effort  to  escape,  the  tern  light- 
ened his  flight  by  disgorging  the  contents  of  his 
gullet. 

Instantly,  with  a  movement  so  quick  that  Perry 
was  hard  set  to  follow  it,  the  pirate  caught  in  mid- 
air the  fish  that  the  tern  had  dropped.  Pouncing 
upon  it  from  above,  like  a  falling  thunderbolt,  his 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  69 

powerful  bill  seized  the  fish.  A  quick  upward  jerk 
of  the  head  sent  the  silver  thing  gleaming  above 
him,  and,  as  it  whirled,  he  caught  it  in  the  proper 
position  for  swallowing,  head  first.  Then,  glid- 
ing back  toward  the  middle  of  the  flock,  the  frigate- 
bird  poised,  ready  to  pounce  upon  the  meal  that 
the  next  tern  would  catch. 

"  The  grafter!  "  exclaimed  Perry,  when  the 
whole  plan  was  clear  to  him.  "  Why  doesn't  he 
catch  fish  for  himself?  " 

"  He  cannot,  he  cannot,''  Antoine  answered. 
"  He  is  made  to  live  that  way.  He  cannot  dive, 
no,  nor  can  he  plunge  into  the  water.  Some  one 
else  must  catch  fish  for  him,  or  he  will  die." 

"  That's  the  limit!" 

Antoine  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Man  is  just  as  bad,"  he  said.  "  The  cow 
makes  milk  for  the  calf,  Man  takes  it;  the  bee 
makes  honey,  Man  takes  it;  what's  the  differ- 
ence! " 

"  I  suppose  it's  so,  when  you  put  it  that  way, 
we  do  manage  to  sneak  a  lot  of  stuff  that  animals 
have  planned  for  their  own  little  savings.  It 
seems  a  shame,  somehow,  and  yet  it  seems  right, 
too." 

"  It  is  Nature's  law,  yes,"  the  young  Belgian 


70        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

replied,  "  always  the  more  powerful  creature 
preys  upon  the  less." 

11  It's  a  good  thing,"  said  Perry,  thoughtfully, 
"  that  the  frigate-bird  isn't  any  bigger.  A  five- 
foot  span  is  big  enough,  anyway.  Suppose  he 
were  as  big  as  an  albatross,  Antoine,  why,  the 
terns  would  never  get  anything  to  eat  at  all. ' ' 

"  If  he  were  as  big  as  an  albatross,"  retorted 
the  other,  "  the  little  birds  could  dodge  him." 

"  Isn't  the  albatross  about  the  biggest  thing 
that  ever  flew?  "  asked  the  boy. 

Antoine  made  a  gesture  of  negation. 

"  No,  no,"  he  said,  "  he  is  the  biggest  bird, 
the  biggest  thing  with  feathers  that  has  ever  been, 
but  the  Pteranodon — the  Pteranodon  was  more 
than  half  as  big  again  and  would  look  twice  as 
big." 

"  Pteranodon,"  said  the  boy  thoughtfully. 
"  Let's  see,  Antoine,  that  was  some  kind  of  lizard- 
bird,  wasn't  it?  " 

"  Not  a  bird,  not  a  bird,"  replied  the  other, 
"  but  it  was  a  lizard  that  flew." 

"  Didn't  it  have  wings?  " 

"  No,  no,  it  had  aeroplanes,"  was  the  astonish- 
ing answer.  "  Hold  out  your  hand!  " 

"Wondering  what  was  coming,  the  boy  did  so. 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  71 

"  Double  your  thumb  under,  put  the  three  fin- 
gers close  together  but  not  quite  touching,  and 
spread  the  little  finger  out,"  ordered  his  friend. 

Perry  obeyed. 

"  Now,  imagine  you  have  claws  on  the  three 
fingers,  and  make  your  little  finger  four  feet  long. 
Next  picture  to  yourself  a  skin  like  a  bat's 
stretched  from  the  tip  of  the  finger  to  your  feet 
and  you  have  a  Pteranodon. ' 7 

"  Just  like  a  big  bat!  " 

"  No,  no.  The  bat  has  five  fingers.  The  bat's 
thumb  is  a  claw,  and  the  membrane  that  makes 
the  wing  is  like  a  big  web  between  the  long,  long 
fingers.  Quite  different.  Then  the  bat  is  a  mam- 
mal. The  Pteranodon,  like  all  the  flying  lizards, 
was  a  reptile.  The  first  bat  was  not  born  until 
thousands  of  years  after  the  last  pterodactyl  or 
flying  lizard  died.  There  were  lots  of  different 
kinds,  but  all  their  flying  planes,  or  wings,  were 
stretched  from  one  finger.  That's  the  reason  of 
the  name,  Perry,  ptero — dactyl,  wing — finger. 
Some  were  smaller  than  a  sparrow,  others  were 
big.  The  Pteranodon  was  the  biggest.  Some  had 
teeth,  some  had  beaks  like  birds.  There  was  the 
Eamphorhyncus — " 

"  Oh,  I  know  him,"  said  the  boy  eagerly,  "  he 


72        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

had  a  tremendous  long  tail  with  a  rudder  at  the 
tip." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  agreed  his  friend.  "  And  do  you 
know  the  Dimorphodon  Macronyx?  " 

"  Big-headed  thing,  looks  like  a  nightmare, 
with  a  rat's  tail,  teeth  sticking  up  on  the  outside, 
and  eyes  that  look  as  if  he'd  been  in  a  fight?  Is 
that  the  one?  " 

Antoine  laughed  at  the  description. 

"It  is  not  quite  scientific,  worded  that  way," 
he  answered,  "  but  you  have  the  idea.  That  is 
'  him, '  as  you  say.  None  of  these  really  flew. 
They  aeroplaned." 

"  I  don't  quite  understand,"  said  the  boy. 
"  How  do  you  mean  they  aeroplaned?  " 

"  See,"  said  his  friend,  "  a  bird  flaps  his  wings 
and  rises.  Some  birds  can  glide  for  hours  and 
hardly  ever  flap  their  wings.  But  many  of  the 
flying  lizards  could  not  flap  their  wings  at  all. 
They  had  to  climb  up  a  tree  or  a  cliff  with  their 
claws  and  then  throw  themselves  into  space. 
Then,  with  the  start  they  thus  got,  they  could 
swoop  and  glide  and  swirl  for  quite  a  long  time. 
When  the  spurt  was  over,  they  would  have  to 
find  some  new  place  up  which  to  climb.  Some  of 
them,  if  they  were  on  a  flat  plain,  would  die." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

THE  LARGEST  CREATURE  THAT  EVER  FLEW. 

Pteranodon,   the    flying    reptile,  twtenty-one  feet    from   tip  to   tip  of 
"wings,"  the  last  of  a  giaut  race,  soaring  over  the  Cretaceous  ocean. 


Courtesy  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

A  FLYING  NIGHTMARE  OF  OLDEJTTIMK/ '" 

Dimorphodon  Macronyx,  size  of  a  small  dog,  one  of  the  minor  terrors 
of  the  air,  ten  million  years  ago.     Restoration  from  Seeley,  in 
"Dragons  of  the  Air";  pose  of  restoration  questiona- 
ble, as  fore-legs  could  not  be  used  for  walking. 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  73 

"  Even  the  Pteranodon?  " 

"  No,  no,"  his  friend  answered.  "  Pteranodon 
was  so  big.  From  tip  to  tip  of  the  planes  or 
wings  was  nearly  twenty  feet.  And  his  body  was 
very  small.  Even  the  bones  were  tiny.  A  Pte- 
ranodon bone  over  two  feet  long  and  two  inches 
in  diameter,  was  like  a  piece  of  heavy  cardboard 
rolled  into  a  tube." 

«  «  Hollow  1" 

"  Quite,  quite  hollow.  And  he  had  very  little 
weight  to  carry.  We  know  he  could  not  have 
flapped  his  wings  very  much." 

"  How  can  you  find  that  out?  "  queried  Perry. 
"  No  one  was  there  to  see  him." 

"  No,  no.  But  it  takes  muscle  strength  to  flap 
wings,  and  it  needs  a  strong  breastbone  to  attach 
the  muscles.  The  flying  lizards  did  not  have  this. 
Then,  too,  the  bones  were  too  thin  to  flap  such 
big  wings.  It  was  nearly  all  gliding.  So  you  can 
see  why  the  birds  were  the  winners  in  the  fight." 

"  I  surely  do,"  the  boy  answered.  "  But  if  the 
bird  plan  won  out,  and  the  pterodactyl  didn't,  why 
has  the  bat  plan  worked?  " 

"  The  bat's  wings  are  four  times  as  strong  as 
the  pterodactyl's,  because  all  four  fingers  are 
there,"  was  the  reply.  "  Then,  too,  the  bat  is 


74        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

a  mammal  and  warm-blooded.  Besides  which, 
most  bats  are  small.  The  big  bats  fly  slowly,  flap- 
ping their  wings  like  a  crow." 

1 1  Were  there  any  birds  to  set  up  in  competition 
with  the  flying  lizards?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  Not  at  first,"  the  other  said.  "  But  when 
the  pterodactyl  failed,  Nature  had  to  start  on 
something  else.  So  she  tried  birds.  Still,  the  first 
ones  were  more  than  half  reptiles.  They  even 
had  teeth." 

"  Birds  with  teeth?  " 

"  Great  long  teeth,"  said  his  friend.  "  I  sup- 
pose, Perry,  in  all  the  history  of  fossil  discoveries 
in  the  rocks,  one  of  the  greatest  events  was  the 
day  when  the  first  bird  was  discovered  in  a  rock 
in  Bavaria  which  was  being  quarried  for  litho- 
graph stone.  That  rock  is  made  from  a  fine  kind 
of  mud,  which  was  laid  down  in  the  Jurassic  Pe- 
riod. One  of  the  very  first  birds  in  the  world 
had  evidently  got  stuck  in  that  mud,  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years  ago,  and  although  he  had  strug- 
gled to  get  away,  he  was  stuck  fast.  He  had 
drowned  and  died  there. 

6  i  Then,  day  by  day,  week  by  week,  the  mud  set- 
tled around  him,  until  finally  it  reached  his  body 
and  his  head,  and  entombed  him  absolutely.  The 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  75 

mud  must  have  been  coming  down  quite  fast,  for 
all  his  body  was  covered  even  before  the  feathers 
had  rotted.  For  years  and  years,  for  centuries 
and  centuries,  mud  had  been  deposited  on  top  of 
him,  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  years 
had  put  other  rock  strata  above  the  mud  and  then, 
in  a  later  age,  there  had  been  a  rising  of  the  earth 
and  it  was  all  dry  land  once  more. 

"  Still  more  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
passed,  and  then  Man  came.  A  workman,  dig- 
ging out  stone,  saw  this  dead  bird,  even  the  marks 
of  his  feathers  on  the  stone.  Even  then,  no  one 
could  believe  it  was  really  a  bird,  and  the  jaw, 
which  was  lying  a  few  feet  away  from  the  marks 
of  the  feathers,  was  thought  to  be  the  jaw  of  a 
fish. 

"  Some  day,  perhaps,  Perry,  you  may  be  lucky 
enough  to  find  one  still  earlier!  Think  of  a 
Triassic  reptile  heralding  a  bird !  That  would  be 
a  triumph,  for  there  must  have  been  some  small 
leaping  dinosaur  which  gave  signs  of  bird-like 
development.  Just  think,  Perry,  if  you  should  be 
the  one  to  make  the  grand  discovery!  " 

"  It  would  be  great,"  cried  the  boy. 

"  That's  the  excitement  of  paleontology, "  went 
on  the  other,  enthusiastically.  "  You've  read  of 


76        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

the  gold-fever,  and  how  men  will  spend  their  lives 
alone  in  the  mountains,  hunting  for  nuggets. 
Then,  when  they  find  them,  the  gold  is  just  like 
all  the  rest  of  the  gold  in  the  world.  But  when 
we  find  something  new,  it's  something  that  no  hu- 
man eye  has  ever  seen  before,  it 's  the  gateway  into 
a  new  world.  Any  day,  if  we  were  on  an  expedi- 
tion among  Trias  sic  rocks,  we  might  find  the  bird 
that  lived  before  the  Archaeopteryx  and  learn  for 
the  first  time  exactly  how  the  birds  first  came  to 
be." 

"  There  aren't  any  birds  living  to-day  that  are 
like  those  old  primitive  ones,  are  there,  Antoine  !  ' ' 

"  Not  really  alike,"  the  other  answered,  "  be- 
cause those  early  birds  were  still  half  reptiles. 
For  example,  the  Archaeopteryx  had  a  long  tail 
like  a  lizard,  with  a  feather  on  each  side  of  each 
joint.  Then,  too,  he  had  claws  on  the  joints  of 
his  wings.  Now,  there  is  still  one  bird  living  that 
has  claws  on  the  end  of  its  wings  when  young, 
and  climbs  around  the  trees  with  them  before  it 
learns  to  fly.  That's  the—" 

"  Hold  on!  "  cried  Perry.  "  I'll  tell  you  the 
name.  Wait  a  bit!  "  He  thought  hard.  "  It's 
the— the— Hoactzin,  isn't  it!  " 

"  Eight,  right,"  said  Antoine,  "  you  have  read 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  77 

your  books  well.  The  first  birds  were  not  highly 
developed,  and  probably  they  were  not  as  good 
flyers  as  the  flying  lizards.  Most  likely  they  only 
took  short  flights.  Still,  the  future  was  theirs, 
for  they  were  built  upon  a  better  plan." 

"  Because  of  the  wing-flapping?  " 

"  Yes,  for  one  reason.  But  the  pterodactyls 
might  have  developed  that.  Indeed,  some  of  the 
little  ones  may  have  been  able  to  flap.  It  was 
the  cold  that  first  gave  the  birds  their  real  start. ' ' 

"  The  Ice  Age?  " 

"  Not  the  one  you  mean,  Perry,  but  the  second 
Ice  Age,  at  the  end  of  the  Age  of  Chalk.  It  makes 
the  geological  history  of  the  world  a  great  deal 
easier  to  remember,  if  you  divide  it  into  the  three 
great  Ages  of  Ice.  The  first  came  at  the  end  of 
the  Coal-Forest  time  or  the  Carboniferous  Period 
and  closed  the  Empire  of  Fishes  and  Amphibians ; 
the  Second  Age  of  Ice  came  at  the  end  of  the 
Age  of  Chalk,  or  the  Cretaceous  Period,  and  it 
closed  the  Empire  of  Eeptiles ;  the  Third  Ice  Age 
came  at  the  end  of  the  Pliocene  Period  and  it 
closed  the  Empire  of  the  Beasts.  As  the  Ice-sheet 
of  the  Glacial  Epoch  slowly  drew  back  toward  the 
North  Pole,  Man  took  his  place  as  the  leader  of 
Life." 


78       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  boy  looked  up  quickly. 

"  That's  a  dandy  division,  Antoine,"  he  said; 
"  it's  heaps  easier  to  remember  that  way.  And 
you  say  it  was  the  Second  Ice  Age  that  shoved 
the  birds  ahead?  ' 

"  Yes,  yes.  During  the  Age  of  Chalk,  nearly 
all  Europe  was  under  a  warm  sea.  There  were 
millions  of  little  sea-creatures  with  shells,  in  those 
tepid  waters.  Sea-shells,  you  know,  are  made  out 
of  the  lime  that  is  dissolved  in  the  sea,  but  after 
that  lime  has  been  made  into  a  sea-shell  it  does 
not  dissolve.  These  billions  of  microscopic  shell- 
fish lived,  made  their  homes  and  died,  so  that  their 
shells  rained  continually  through  the  water  to  the 
ocean  floor,  and,  inch  by  inch,  the  accumulated 
shells  made  deep  beds  of  lime  or  chalk.  Some  beds 
are  hundreds  of  feet  thick. 

"  Slowly,  slowly,  the  bed  of  the  ocean  rose,  until 
it  came  near  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Still  it  rose, 
throwing  off  the  water  that  had  covered  it.  The 
oceans  rushed  into  a  new  bed,  and  Western  Amer- 
ica, Southern  Europe  and  Southern  Asia  rose 
above  the  water  for  the  last  time,  much  in  their 
present  outlines. 

"  The  changes  of  the  earth's  crust  made  num- 
berless volcanoes,  especially  in  those  parts  of  the 


PIRATES  OF  THE  AIR  79 

earth  that  had  just  appeared  above  the  surface. 
In  the  glare  of  eruptions  that  never  stopped,  amid 
the  thunder  of  vast  explosions,  the  hissing  of  great 
geysers  and  the  unceasing  growl  of  earthquakes, 
the  land  grew  higher  and  higher  above  the  sea, 
and  the  world  grew  colder  and  colder.  It  was  the 
end  of  the  Empire  of  Reptiles." 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  Perry,  remembering  his 
dream. 

"  As  the  world  grew  colder,"  Antoine  con- 
tinued, "  the  soft  vegetation  died  away  and 
harder  grasses  and  trees  and  shrubs  took  its  place, 
needing  creatures  with  better  teeth  to  chew  the 
stronger  fibers.  And  still  the  grip  of  the  cold  in- 
creased. 

"  In  that  time  of  miserable  frigidity,  the  flying 
lizards  suffered  terribly.  Their  thin  wings  of 
membrane  had  no  resistance  to  the  biting  blasts 
that  whistled  over  the  ever-rising  land.  Their 
cold  blood  afforded  no  store  of  vitality  against  the 
frost. 

"  The  birds,  their  rivals,  protected  with  feath- 
ers, with  warm  blood  in  their  veins,  with  deep 
breastbones  giving  them  muscles  enabling  them  to 
fly  long  distances,  got  the  pick  of  the  food.  One 
by  one  the  shivering  pterodactyls  disappeared, 


80        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

and  perhaps  the  great  specimen  of  Pteranodon  in 
our  Museum  was  the  very  last  of  the  giant  flying 
reptiles. 

"  We  can  almost  see  him,  half-starved,  half- 
frozen,  gliding  over  the  waters  of  the  sea,  his 
gaunt  ungainly  frame  growing  weaker  and  more 
feeble  as  numbness  stole  over  him,  only,  at  last, 
to  fall  into  the  ocean  that  once  flowed  over  what 
is  now  the  State  of  Kansas.  And  so  he  died,  the 
great  Pteranodon,  the  last  of  his  kind,  and,  for 
size,  the  crested  monarch  of  all  that  flew  in  any 
age  that  had  been  or  was  to  come." 


CHAPTER  IV 

SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT 

FOE  the  next  two  days  Perry  was  kept  busily 
at  work  on  his  examinations,  for,  as  his  father  had 
suggested,  it  was  on  ship-board  that  the  boy's 
uncle  felt  the  time  to  be  most  opportune  for  get- 
ting that  work  done.  He  was  deep  in  one  of  his 
examination  papers,  when,  suddenly,  his  uncle 
called  to  him: 

"  Here's  a  sea-serpent,  Perry!  " 

The  boy  came  out  of  his  deck-chair  with  a  jump, 
tripping  over  his  steamer  rug  and  nearly  pitch- 
ing headlong  in  his  hurry.  He  scrambled  to  the 
rail  and  followed  with  his  glance  his  uncle's  point- 
ing finger. 

There,  not  more  than  seventy-five  feet  from  the 
vessel's  side,  were  the  moving  and  undulating 
coils  of  what,  at  first  sight,  appeared  to  be  a  huge 
snake.  Just  for  a  moment,  and  then  a  picture  that 
he  had  seen  flashed  back  to  the  boy's  remembrance, 
and  he  turned  to  his  uncle  with  a  look  of  reproach. 

81 


82        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Uncle  George,  that's  only  a  school  of  por- 
poises! ' 

"  Fooled  you  for  a  minute,  didn't  they?  " 
queried  his  leader. 

"  Yes,"  the  boy  admitted,  "  they  certainly  did. 
But  only  for  a  minute." 

"  Supposing  you  had  never  heard  of  porpoises, 
that  you  had  seen  them  just  once  and  that  on  a 
misty  morning,  seen  them  the  way  you  saw  them 
just  now,  heaving  themselves  clear  out  of  the 
water,  one  after  the  other  in  a  long  wavering  line, 
don't  you  think  you  might  have  reported  that  you 
had  seen  the  sea-serpent?  " 

"  Likely  enough,"  the  lad  agreed.  "  But  about 
the  sea-serpent,  Uncle  George,  I've  often  won- 
dered. Do  you  suppose  that  there  was  ever  any 
real  reason  for  the  yarn?  " 

"  Why  do  you  call  it  a  yarn?  "  queried  the  scien- 
tist sharply. 

"  Why  not?  "  was  Perry's  astonished  answer. 
"  There  isn't  any  sea-serpent,  is  there?  ' 

"  You  seem  pesky  sure  about  it,"  his  uncle  re- 
torted, with  a  distinct  trace  of  irritation  in  his 
manner. 

"  But  I  thought  every  one  knew  it  was  a  fake !  " 

"  That  what  was  a  fake?  " 


Courtesy  of  P< 


Magazine. 
SEA-SERPENT  ATTACKING  A  PIRATE  SHIP. 


Fanciful  sketch,  but  the  red  flowing  mane  may  have  been  suggested  by  an 
oarfish,  of  which  specimens  fifty  feet  long  have  been  found. 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       83 

"  The  sea-serpent  yarn." 

"  You  persist  in  calling  it  a  '  yarn,'  "  his  uncle 
warned  him.  "  Get  out  of  that  habit,  Perry,  it 
won't  do  you  any  good.  It's  never  safe  to  say 
that  a  certain  thing  does  not  exist,  until  you  have 
absolute  proof  that  it  cannot  exist.  No  one  would 
have  expected  to  find  birds  with  teeth  or  lizards 
with  wings,  yet,  as  you  know,  there  were  plenty 
of  these,  and  we  have  found  many  specimens.  As 
for  your  way  of  talking  about  a  sea-serpent 
'  yarn,'  don't  forget  that  millions  of  sea-serpents 
swam  in  the  oceans  of  long  ago." 

"  Could  there  be  an  Ichthyosaurus  still  living 
in  the  bottom  of  the  sea?  "  hazarded  the  boy. 

The  professor  wheeled  on  him  in  an  instant. 

"  What  was  an  Ichthyosaurus,"  he  asked 
sharply,  "  fish  or  reptile?  " 

"  Reptile,"  answered  the  boy  promptly. 

"  Do  true  reptiles  have  gills?  " 

The  question  staggered  Perry,  for  he  did  not 
know.  He  thought  for  a  moment,  and  then  re- 
membered that  all  water-dwelling  reptiles  came  up 
to  the  surface  to  breathe,  so  he  answered : 

"  I'm  not  sure,  Uncle  George,  but  I  don't  think 
any  of  them  have." 

"  They    haven't,"    was    the    crisp    correction. 


84        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  How,  then,  could  any  of  them  be  living  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sea?  ' 

The  scientist  snorted  impatiently  and  paced  the 
deck. 

"  There's  a  lot  of  foolish  talk,"  he  continued, 
after  a  few  minutes'  pause,  "  about  some  race  of 
fossil  monsters  having  continued  to  the  present 
time,  as  though,  at  almost  any  time,  one  might 
happen  to  come  across  an  Agathosaurus  at  sea, 
or  a  Tyrannosaurus  on  land.  There  are,  of 
course,  a  few  survivals,  such  as  the  shrimp-like 
Nebalia,  which  goes  back  to  the  Cambrian  Period, 
to  the  very  beginning  of  life,  but  all  these  sur- 
vivals are  small  and  inconspicuous.  And  Agatho-' 
saurus  of  the  Cretaceous  Period  certainly  wasn't 
inconspicuous!  " 

6 '  Just  how  big  was  the  Agathosaurus  ?  ' '  queried 
the  boy. 

"  Big  enough  to  satisfy  any  sea-serpent- 
hunter,"  was  the  reply.  "  The  Agathosaurus 
had  a  neck  thirty  feet  long  and  a  body  as  large 
as  that  of  a  small  elephant,  with  powerful  limbs 
turned  into  swimming  paddles.  This  long  neck, 
with  its  small  head  and  sharp-toothed  jaws,  must 
have  worked  havoc  with  the  fish  of  the  Jurassic 
seas." 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       85 

"  Weren't  there  any  fish  big  enough  to  give  him 
a  fight?  " 

"  H'm,  hardly, "  the  scientist  replied  medita- 
tively. "  Still,  there  was  the  Portheus  Molossus, 
of  course." 

"  The  what!  "  asked  the  boy.  "  I  haven't  ever 
heard  of  him." 

' '  The  bulldog  fish, ' '  his  uncle  explained.  '  *  Oh, 
Portheus  was  able  to  give  a  good  account  of  him- 
self. He  had  a  head  a  little  larger  than  that  of 
a  grizzly  bear,  with  jaws  even  deeper  than  a  bear's 
in  proportion  to  their  length.  The  teeth  stood 
about  three  inches  above  the  gums,  tiger-like,  but, 
of  course,  they  were  fish  teeth,  much  more  slender 
and  a  great  deal  sharper.  He  had  two  rows  of 
teeth  which  crossed  each  other,  and  even  an  Aga- 
thosaurus  would  have  had  trouble  shaking  off  a 
Portheus  if  the  fish  took  a  fast  hold  on  his  snaky 
neck." 

"  I  wish  I  could  see  a  scrap  like  that  now,"  ex- 
claimed Perry  regretfully. 

"  You  were  born  about  three  million  years  too 
late,"  was  the  reply,  "  for  it's  fully  as  long  ago 
since  the  saurians  left.  They  were  the  strangest 
army,  Perry,  that  ever  trod  the  earth,  some  of 
them  monsters  of  ferocity  and  terrible  to  look  on, 


86        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

such  as  the  Tyrannosaurus,  which,  as  you  can  see, 
means  the  Tyrant  Saurian,  but  most  of  them  were 
slow,  lumbering,  and  inoffensive.  Of  true  quick- 
ness and  agility  they  had  none. 

"  Over  earth  and  air  and  sea,  they  were  the 
masters.  In  the  shallow  seas  they  ruled  with  an 
iron  hand ;  they  filled  great  shells  like  turtles  with 
a  bulk  vaster  than  has  been  seen  since ;  they  reared 
themselves  on  towering  hind  limbs  like  colossal 
kangaroos,  their  monstrous  tails  swinging  free  be- 
hind them;  they  donned  fantastic  armor,  with 
spikes  and  horns,  and  living  saws  upon  their  backs, 
such  as  outdid  the  wildest  imaginations  of  man; 
they  even  rose  into  the  air  and  filled  it  with  the 
flying  dragons,  as  though  to  make  fairy  tales  be- 
lievable. 

' l  From  Australia  to  the  Arctic  Circle  the  whole 
world  was  in  their  grip,  and  one  can  almost 
picture  two  of  the  great  monsters  thinking,  in 
their  sluggish  way,  of  the  impossibility  that  their 
mighty  lordship  should  ever  come  to  an  end.  I 
say  i  almost, '  Perry,  for  you  know  that  these  crea- 
tures had  very  little  brain.  A  monster  weigh- 
ing thirty  tons,  like  the  Brontosaurus,  had  only 
one-quarter  as  much  true  brain  as  an  ape  of  to-day. 
They  could  hardly  think  at  all.  Yet,  in  some 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History . 

THE  SHARP-TOOTHED  DEATH. 

Thirty-foot  Tylosaurus  pursuing  Portheus,  the  six-foot  bulldog  fish, 
in  the  Jurassic  ocean. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

THE  JURASSIC  SEA-SERPENT. 

Elasmosaurus,  the  scourge  of  the  primitive  ocean,  seventy  feet  in 
length,  ravaging  the  bottom  of  the  shallow  sea.      Neck 
less  flexible   than  shown  in  restoration. 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       87 

brute  way,  they  knew  that  they  had  nothing  but 
each  other  to  be  afraid  of.  The  enemy  that  should 
conquer  them  they  did  not  know. 

1  i  Then  came  the  cold,  the  awful  cold  that  drove 
the  Pterodactyls  from  the  earth.  The  warm  seas 
of  the  Age  of  Chalk  grew  chill,  the  land  rose,  the 
water  ran  into  the  deep  beds  of  what  is  now  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  the  continents  as  we 
know  them  took  their  shape,  the  ever-rising  earth 
grew  impatient  of  its  slow-brained  huge  inhabi- 
tants, and  shook  them  off.  The  Tyrannosaurus 
and  all  the  flesh-eating  dinosaurs  had  found  easy 
prey  on  the  huge  vegetarian  monsters,  but  as  these 
decreased  they  began  to  prey  upon  themselves. 
Their  heavy  shapes  and  their  slow  brains,  how- 
ever, made  them  unfit  for  the  great  battle  of  life, 
and  quicker  and  more  alert  animals  took  their 
place. 

"  When,  a  hundred  thousand  years  later,  the 
climate  relaxed  and  began  to  grow  warmer  again, 
in  the  Eocene  Epoch,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Ter- 
tiary Period,  the  mighty  monsters  and  the  strange 
dragons  were  all  gone,  and  a  ragged  regiment  of 
crocodiles,  turtles,  and  serpents  in  the  tropics, 
with  a  swarm  of  smaller  creatures,  such  as  lizards, 


88        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

in  the  fringes  of  the  warm  zone,  was  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  world-conquering  hosts  of  the  Me- 
sozoic  reptiles. 

"  There  are  none  left  now,  Perry,  and  you  will 
wear  out  your  eyes  with  watching  over  the  sea  he- 
fore  ever  you  will  see  any  of  the  sea-snake-lizards 
— the  Dolichosaurs  and  the  Mosasaurs,  or  the  fish- 
lizards — such  as  the  Ichthyosaurs.  The  Plesio- 
saurs,  too,  have  gone.  Not  one  of  those  big  sea- 
reptile  forms  has  sought  its  prey  in  the  waters 
of  the  earth  for  at  least  three  million  years." 

*  '  Yet  lots  of  people  claim  to  have  seen  sea-ser- 
pents," protested  Perry. 

'  *  Plenty  of  them.  But  no  one  has  ever  made  a 
photograph  of  one,  nor  has  a  single  specimen  of 
one  ever  been  put  into  a  Museum, "  remarked  the 
professor. 

"  Do  you  think  they  were  all  fake — I  mean  mis- 
takes?" corrected  the  boy,  hastily. 

"  Not  at  all,"  was  the  reply.  "  Some  of  them 
were  hoaxes,  of  course.  But  Fm  not  the  man  to 
believe  that  other  people  are  lying  because  I  don 't 
happen  to  agree  with  them.  It's  easy  to  make 
errors  in  a  subject  on  which  you're  not  an  expert 
— and  few  of  the  people  who  have  claimed  to  have 
seen  sea-serpents  were  expert  naturalists.  Now, 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       89 

if  a  sea-serpent  presented  himself  for  examination 
to  a  scientific  expedition,  such  as  the  Challenger, 
or  the  Michael  Sars,  it  would  be  a  different  matter. 
That  has  never  happened/' 

"  But  you  think  the  people  who  reported  a  sea- 
serpent  saw  something?  " 

"I'm  sure  of  it,"  was  the  scientist's  instant 
reply.  "  The  very  difference  in  all  the  reports 
shows  that." 

' '  What  do  you  suppose  they  saw  ?  ' ' 

6 '  Some  of  them  saw  porpoises,  without  a  doubt, 
like  those  you  saw  this  morning.  But,  myself,  I 
believe  that  most  of  the  stories  have  started  from 
appearances  of  the  giant  squid  or  calamary.  You 
know,  Perry,  the  squid  has  been  known  to  reach 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  length,  from  the  tip  of  the 
broad  arrow-like  tail  to  the  end  of  the  longest 
tentacle.  As  squids  swim  tail  first,  and  as  their 
method  of  propulsion  is  by  expelling  water  in 
little  jets  from  a  siphon  which  is  situated  near 
the  head,  and,  moreover,  as  they  often  allow  the 
tail  (which  might  look  like  a  head)  to  project  half 
out  of  the  water,  their  huge  bulk  would  easily 
lead  an  observer  to  make  a  false  estimate  of  their 
size.  If  you  add  to  this  the  peculiar  bubbling 
ripple  caused  by  the  squid's  curious  method  of 


9o        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

swimming,  the  wake  would  give  the  effect  of  the 
animal  forty  or  fifty  feet  longer  than  its  true  size. 
Squids  are  not  at  all  uncommon,  though  they  sel- 
dom stay  long  at  the  surface,  and  their  appear- 
ances may  be  the  basis  of  many  sea-serpent 
stories/' 

"  But  you  do  think  that  all  the  stories  are  a 
bit  high,  don't  you,  Uncle  George?  I  mean,  you 
think  they're  not  just  right!  " 

"  I  may  be  a  little  partial  to  the  sea-serpent," 
the  scientist  answered  with  a  quizzical  smile,  "  so 
I  should  never  declare  that  there  may  not  be  some 
monster  of  the  deep  that  is  occasionally  seen." 

"  But  there  have  been  some  awfully  queer 
stories,"  put  in  Perry,  incredulously. 

"Yes,  there  have  been,"  the  professor  admit- 
ted. "  The  early  ones,  particularly,  seem  more 
or  less  fabulous.  For  example,  Perry,  there  was 
the  story  of  the  island  found  by  the  old  Swedish 
bishop-explorer,  Olaus  Magnus.  Do  you  know 
that  one?  " 

"  You  bet  I  do,"  said  the  boy  emphatically. 
"  Father's  got  a  picture  of  it  in  an  old  sketch-book 
of  his  at  home.  Wasn't  that  the  one  in  which  the 
old  explorer  said  he  landed  on  an  island,  took  pos- 
session of  it  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Sweden, 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       91 

had  a  church  service  there,  and  then  decided  to 
wind  up  with  a  feast?  After  a  bit,  when  the  fire 
really  got  hot,  they  smelt  a  smell  of  burning  skin, 
the  '  island  '  began  to  move,  and  the  bishop  and 
the  sailors  hardly  had  time  to  scramble  back 
aboard  the  ship  and  cut  the  rope  fastened  to  the 
grappling  anchor  they  had  cast  '  ashore,'  when 
the  huge  beast  plunged  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
sea.  I  know  you  think  a  good  deal  of  sea-serpent 
stories,  Uncle  George,  but  I'm  leery  about  that 
one." 

"I'll  confess,"  the  professor  answered,  laugh- 
ing, "  that  even  the  fact  that  the  explorer  was  a 
bishop  doesn't  quite  convince  me.  Yet  Svere, 
King  of  Norway,  claimed  to  have  seen  a  similar 
creature,  just  as  large,  which  he  called  a  '  hus- 
guife.'  If  you  don't  believe  a  bishop,  how  about 
a  king?  " 

"  I  think  he  fibbed,  too,"  was  the  boy's  ready 
answer. 

The  professor's  eyes  twinkled. 

"  If  you  do  sometime  become  a  paleontologist, 
niy  boy,"  he  said,  "  you'll  have  to  learn  to  com- 
ment on  other  people's  reports  in  language  that 
is — well,  we'll  call  it  a  little  more  scientific.  It  is 
safer,  as  well  as  more  courteous." 


92        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  But  they  were  fibs,"  insisted  the  lad,  with  all 
the  uncompromising  attitude  of  boyhood.  "How 
would  you  put  that  '  scientifically,'  Uncle 
George?  " 

"  They  were — inaccuracies  of  description  con- 
sequent upon  insufficient  opportunity  for  the  de- 
velopment of  correct  observational  methods,"  was 
the  reply.  "  That's  saying  the  same  thing  in 
another  way,  Perry." 

The  lad  laughed. 

"  Tell  me  some  more  of  the  '  inaccuracies,' 
Uncle,"  he  said. 

"  Most  of  them  were  Norse,"  the  professor  con- 
tinued. "  Just  in  /the  same  way  that  all  English- 
speaking  people  believed  in  the  dragon,  and  all 
the  Greeks  believed  in  nymphs  and  fauns,  and  all 
the  Irish  believed  in  fairies,  so  the  Norse  world 
pinned  its  faith  to  the  Kraken,  or  the  Warrum  or 
Sea- Worm  of  Iceland." 

"  I  don't  remember  the  Kraken,"  put  in  the 
boy.  '  *  Just  what  was  that  supposed  to  be  ?  " 

"  It  was  described  as  being  a  creature  of  the 
deepest  parts  of  the  sea.  It  was  supposed  to  be 
a  mile  and  a  half  in  circumference,  and  its  horns 
were  as  high  and  as  large  as  the  masts  of  small 
vessels." 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       93 

"  Did  any  one  ever  claim  to  have  seen  such  a 
beast?  " 

"  Several  people,"  the  scientist  replied.  "  In 
1680,  a  Lutheran  minister,  the  Eev.  Anson  Friis, 
reported  the  discovery  of  a  small  Kraken, 
stranded  in  a  fjord  near  Alstahoug.  He  described 
the  creature  as  almost  round,  with  a  head  some- 
thing like  that  of  a  parrot  and  a  long  tail  divided 
into  four  round  swimming  paddles.  He  went  on 
to  say  that  it  took  him  nine  minutes  of  sharp  walk- 
ing to  walk  round  the  carcass.  Baron  Grippen- 
hjelme,  the  local  magnate,  was  more  moderate  in 
his  estimate,  but  even  he  declared  it  to  be  sixty 
fathoms  (300  feet)  across.  With  a  better  per- 
ception than  the  minister  who  had  first  discovered 
the  carcass,  he  hazarded  the  guess  that  the  strange 
creature  was  a  polyp." 

"  What  do  you  suppose  it  really  was?  >7  queried 
the  boy. 

"  That's  a  little  difficult  to  say,"  was  the 
guarded  reply.  "  There's  not  much  evidence  to 
go  on.  There  seems  no  doubt  that  Friis  and  Grip- 
penhjelme  found  something.  The  remarks  about 
a  parrot's  beak  by  one,  and  the  other's  reference 
to  a  polyp  suggest  that  perhaps  a  giant  squid  and 
an  octopus  were  washed  ashore  together,  and  if, 


94        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

as  probable,  their  flesh  already  was  decaying,  ex- 
amination would  be  apt  to  be  very  brief.  Don't 
forget,  Perry,  that  the  size  was  only  an  estimate. 
Even  the  most  conservative  guesses  shrink  under 
the  application  of  a  two-foot  rule." 

'  '  Yet  you  seem  to  think,  Uncle  George,  that  some 
of  the  sea-serpent  reports  might  have  something  in 
them!" 

"  All  of  them  are  based  on  something,"  was 
the  reply,  * '  and  there  are  a  few  that  one  hesitates 
to  deny.  It  would  almost  seem  certain  that  there 
are  some  large  creatures  in  the  sea,  in  addition 
to  the  whales,  though  probably  nothing  as  large 
as  a  full-sized  sulphur-bottom  whale.  It  is  equally 
certain  that,  whatever  these  creatures  may  be,  they 
are  not  serpents,  though  they  may  possess  snake- 
like  features.  One  has  to  be  careful  about  de- 
nials," he  went  on,  taking  a  battered  old  note- 
book out  of  his  pocket,  and  turning  over  the 
leaves,  "  because  some  reports  are  quite  circum- 
stantial. The  most  famous  of  them  was  the  re- 
port once  made  by  the  captain  and  officers  of  a 
British  man-o'-war,  the  frigate  D&dalus,  in  1848. 
I  thought  I  had  that  note  in  here.  Yes,  here  it  is. 

"  Listen  to  this,  Perry,"  he  went  on,  "  and  per- 
haps your  disbelief  will  have  a  jolt: 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       95 

"  *  I  have  the  honor,'  "  he  read,  "  '  to  acquaint 
you  for  the  information  of  my  Lord  Commission- 
ers of  the  Admiralty,  that  at  5  o  'clock  P.  M.  on 
the  6th  of  August  last,  in  latitude  24°  44'  S.  and 
longitude  9°  22'  E.  (1,000  miles  west  of  the  coast 
of  South  Africa)  with  the  weather  dark  and 
cloudy,  wind  fresh  from  the  NW,  with  a  long  ocean 
swell  from  the  SW,  the  ship  on  the  port  tack  head- 
ing NE  by  N,  something  very  unusual  was  seen 
by  Mr.  Sartoris,  midshipman,  rapidly  approach- 
ing the  ship  from  before  the  beam.  The  circum- 
stance was  immediately  reported  by  him  to 
the  officer  of  the  watch,  Lieutenant  Edgar  Drum- 
mond,  with  whom  and  Mr.  Wm.  Barrett,  the 
master,  I  was  at  the  time  walking  the  quarter- 
deck. 

"  *  On  our  attention  being  called  to  the  object, 
it  was  discovered  to  be  an  enormous  serpent,  with 
head  and  neck  kept  about  four  feet  constantly 
above  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and,  as  nearly  as  we 
could  approximate,  by  comparing  it  with  the  length 
of  what  our  main-topsail  yard  would  show  in  the 
water,  there  was,  at  the  very  least,  60  feet  of  the 
animal,  a  fleur  d'eau  (flush  with  the  surface  of 
the  water),  no  portion  of  which  was,  to  our  per- 
ception, used  in  propelling  it  through  the  water 


96        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

either  by  vertical  or  horizontal  undulation.  It 
passed  rapidly,  but  so  close  under  our  lee  quar- 
ter, that  had  it  been  a  man  of  my  acquaintance, 
I  should  easily  have  recognized  his  features  with 
the  naked  eye,  and  it  did  not,  either  in  approach- 
ing the  ship  or  after  it  had  passed  our  wake,  devi- 
ate in  the  slightest  degree  from  its  course  to  the 
SW,  which  it  held  on  at  the  pace  of  from  12  to 
15  miles  per  hour,  apparently  on  some  determined 
purpose. 

"  'The  diameter  of  the  serpent  was  about  15 
or  16  inches  behind  the  head,  which  was,  without 
any  doubt,  that  of  a  snake,  and  it  was  never,  dur- 
ing the  twenty  minutes  that  it  remained  in  sight 
of  our  glasses,  once  below  the  surface  of  the  water; 
its  color  a  dark  brown,  with  yellowish-white  about 
the  throat. 

"  '  It  had  no  fins,  but  something  more  like  the 
mane  of  a  horse,  or  rather,  a  bunch  of  seaweed, 
washing  about  its  back.  It  was  seen  by  the  quar- 
termaster, the  boatswain's  mate  and  the  man  at 
the  wheel,  in  addition  to  myself  and  officers  above 
mentioned. 

"  '  I  am  having  a  drawing  of  the  serpent  made 
from  a  sketch  taken  immediately  after  it  was  seen, 
which  I  hope  to  have  ready  for  transmission  to 


SEA-SERPENT  SWALLOWING  SAILORS. 
From  the  records  of  the  Swedish  bishop-explorer,  Glaus  Maguus. 


____•••••••••••••••••••••••• 

CourtvHii  of  Illustrated  London  News. 

THB  MOST  AUTHENTIC  SEA-SERPENT. 

This  drawing  was  made  on  the  British  man-o'-war  Daedalus,  and  the 
captain  and  officers,  men  of  high  naval  rank  and  standing,  signed 
an  official  statement  that  the  creature  closely  resembled  this 
drawing,  made  at  the  time.    The  monster  was  observed 
for  more  than  twenty  minutes  and  came  close  to 
the  vessel.      Science  has  never  be^n^a-hle,  to,  ,     , ,, 

explain   this  sea-serpent,  and  ij  rs;stjl     •   • 
one  of  the   mysteries  of  the 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       97 

my  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty  by  to- 
morrow 's  post.' 

"  '  PETER  M'QUHAB,  Capt'  " 

"  What  on  earth  can  that  have  been!  "  queried 
Perry,  in  surprise.  "  It  sounds  almost  real, 
somehow!  " 

"  It  was  real  enough/'  was  the  reply. 
"  There's  no  doubt  of  that.  The  only  question 
is:  What  was  it  that  they  saw?  The  sketch — I 
copied  it  in  my  book,  here  it  is — shows  that  it 
wasn't  a  serpent.  The  captain  thought  it  was  a 
serpent,  because  it  was  long  and  thin.  A  worm 
is  long  and  thin,  but  it  isn't  a  serpent;  an  eel  is 
long  and  thin,  but  it  isn't  a  serpent;  and  a  rib- 
bon-fish may  be  fifty  or  sixty  feet  long,  but  it's 
not  in  the  least  like  a  snake.  Look  at  the  head 
in  the  sketch,  Perry,  and  you'll  see  that  it  isn't 
like  a  snake's  head,  at  all." 

Perry  took  the  note-book  and  looked  at  the  draw- 
ing with  the  intensest  interest. 

"  It  doesn't  look  like  anything  in  particular," 
he  said,  "  it's  more  like  a  cross  between  a  seal 
and  a  whale." 

The  scientist  nodded  approvingly. 

"  Once  in  a  while,  Perry,"  he  said,  "  you  show 


98        THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

a  whole  lot  of  good  sense.  Professor  Owen,  the 
great  naturalist,  when  the  Dcedalus  sketch  was 
shown  him,  wrote  a  long  article  suggesting  that 
what  Captain  M'Quhae  had  seen  was  a  sea-ele- 
phant, of  which  specimens  have  been  found  nearly 
thirty  feet  in  length.  And  a  sea-elephant  is  of 
the  family  of  the  seals. 

"  Personally,  I  rather  question  whether  Profes- 
sor Owen  was  right,  because  so  conspicuous  a  thing 
as  the  trunk-like  prolongation  of  the  nose,  at  least 
a  foot  long,  would  not  have  escaped  the  attention  of 
sailors.  Seamen's  eyes  are  keen  for  objects  in  the 
water.  Some  of  the  supposed  sea-serpents  prob- 
ably have  been  squids,  some  have  been  schools  of 
porpoises,  some  have  been  ribbon-fish,  but  I  think 
the  monster  seen  from  the  quarter-deck  of  the 
Dcedalus  was  probably  some  aged  and  patriarchal 
creature  of  the  seal  variety,  a  mammal  and  not  a 
reptile,  a  creature  of  this  age,  not  of  an  age  of  two 
million  years  ago." 

The  porpoises  had  passed  far  out  of  sight  long 
before  this  conversation  was  ended,  but  his  uncle 's 
belief  that  there  was  some  huge  creature  still 
swimming  in  the  seas  quickened  the  lad's  inter- 
est, and  he  scanned  the  waters  with  the  profes- 
sor's field-glass  eagerly  and  often.  He  thought 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT       99 

of  the  phrase  "  beginner's  luck  "  and  his  hopes 
continued  unabated. 

Two  days  later  land  was  sighted,  and  the 
steamer  came  to  the  great  gateway  of  that  sea 
which  has  formed  the  basin  of  civilization,  that 
great  Mediterranean  Sea  on  which  Venice,  Borne, 
Greece,  Egypt,  and  Phoenicia  have  played  their 
part.  To  the  right,  lay  mysterious  Africa ;  to  the 
left,  frowning  and  sheer,  rose  the  great  rock  of 
embattled  Gibraltar,  Great  Britain's  guardian  of 
the  straits.  The  boy  was  enjoying  the  sight  of 
land  and  picturing  to  himself  the  scene  if  the  dogs 
of  war  were  loosed  and  that  front  of  rock  should 
suddenly  belch  forth  a  flame  curtain  of  fire  and 
death  before  which  no  vessel  could  live  for  a  mo- 
ment. 

"  No  signs  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis,"  said  a 
voice  behind  him. 

"  That's  so,  Uncle  George,"  the  boy  said,  turn- 
ing, "  this  is  where  the  old  Greeks  believed 
Scylla  to  be,  isn't  it?  But  I'd  rather  tackle  that 
six-headed  monster,  in  spite  of  all  her  appetite, 
even  though  each  head  took  a  man  from  the  crew, 
as  it  did  from  Ulysses'  ship,  than  I  would  run  the 
gauntlet  of  the  guns  of  Gibraltar  let  loose  on  us. 
Still,  even  Scylla  might  be  uncomfortable.  What 


ioo      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

do  you  suppose  was  the  basis  of  that  old  story, 
Uncle  George!  " 

"  Personification  of  the  peril  of  adventure," 
was  the  reply.  ' i  That  is  why  Scylla  and  Charyb- 
dis  were  first  said  to  hold  guard  over  the  Straits 
of  Messina,  between  Sicily  and  Italy,  while  after- 
wards the  twin  terrors  of  the  ravening  whirlpool 
and  the  six-headed  man-eating  woman  monster 
were  located  at  Gibraltar.  As  the  Straits  of  Mes- 
sina became  more  familiar,  the  terror  had  to  be 
put  farther  away,  where  only  the  most  daring 
would  venture. 

"  Eemember,  Perry,  that  the  Greeks  believed 
they  saw  a  god  or  a  goddess  or  a  demon  in  all 
the  forces  of  Nature.  The  sea  was  under  the 
rule  of  Poseidon,  or  Neptune,  as  the  Romans  called 
him;  the  dawn  goddess  Eos,  or  Aurora,  was  the 
mother  of  the  Winds,  such  as  Boreas,  the  North 
Wind  and  Zephyr,  the  West  Wind.  So,  you  see, 
the  Greeks  felt  sure  that  every  point  of  danger 
must  be  guarded  by  some  kind  of  demon  or  mon- 
strous form,  while  beautiful  places  were  inhabited 
by  fair  maidens.  After  all,  Perry,  it's  not  so 
very  long  ago  since  people  believed  in  mermaids. 
So  far  as  that  goes,  some  people  believe  in  them 
still. " 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     101 

66  Uncle  George,"  exclaimed  the  boy  in  surprise, 
"  surely  they  don't!  " 

6  '  Oh,  yes,  they  do, ' '  the  professor  replied.  ' '  In 
the  year  1903 — that's  not  so  long  ago — two  girls 
who  lived  on  the  Island  of  Sark,  one  of  the  Chan- 
nel Islands,  off  the  north  coast  of  France,  came 
hurrying  to  the  house  of  the  village  clergyman, 
telling  him  that  they  had  found  a  baby  with  a  fish's 
tail  on  a  beach,  and  that  it  was  swimming  in  a 
pool  of  water.  They  were  going  to  pick  it  up, 
they  said,  but  when  one  of  the  girls  put  her  hand 
down  toward  it,  the  supposed  baby  opened  its 
mouth  and  showed  a  row  of  sharp  teeth  like  a 
fish." 

"  But  they  couldn't  have  seen  any  such  thing!  " 
declared  the  boy.  ' 1 1  know  enough  for  that. ' ' 

"  Wait  a  bit,"  came  the  warning  answer;  "  you 
haven't  heard  all  the  story  yet.  The  minister 
or  abbe,  who  seems  to  have  been  an  inquisitive 
fellow,  hurried  to  the  place  with  the  two  girls. 
There,  in  a  rock  pool,  as  he  described  it  in  a  com- 
munication to  some  local  scientific  society,  he 
found  a  mermaid,  a  little  creature  not  quite  three 
feet  long,  but  looking  more  like  an  old  woman  than 
a  baby,  as  the  girls  had  described  it.  He  remarks, 
in  his  letter,  in  a  certain  naive  way,  that  the  mer- 


102       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

maid  did  not  seem  to  understand  either  English 
or  French.  Thinking  that  she  might  be  bewitched, 
he  baptized  her,  then  and  there." 

' '  Baptized  her !  ' '  said  Perry,  in  surprise. 
"  What  for!  Did  he  think  she  could  go  to  church 
on  a  tail?" 

"  Perhaps  he  thought  it  best  to  be  on  the  safe 
side,"  was  the  reply.  "  Now  here  is  a  point  that 
gives  a  curious  twist  of  apparent  truth  to  the  story. 
The  abbe  added  that  the  christening  did  not  seem 
to  make  any  difference.  If  he  really  wanted  to 
color  the  tale,  there  was  his  chance  to  make  a 
miracle  out  of  it. 

"  In  his  half-scientific  account  of  the  occurrence, 
the  abbe  stated  that  the  mermaid  breathed  like  a 
woman,  not  a  fish.  Although  warned  by  the  girls, 
he  tried  to  pick  up  the  strange  creature,  but  she 
fastened  her  teeth  savagely  in  his  arm,  and  when 
he  tried  to  shake  her  off,  she  hung  on,  letting  go 
her  hold  suddenly  when  free  from  the  rock-bound 
pool  in  which  she  had  been  a  prisoner.  Falling 
on  the  flat  ledges  of  the  rocks,  she  shuffled  rapidly 
to  the  sea,  plunged  in  and  was  gone.  The  doctor 
who  cauterized  the  abbe's  arm  added  a  statement 
concerning  the  unusual  character  of  the  bite." 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     103 

"  That's  'a  fishy  tale!  "  exclaimed  the  boy  de- 
risively. 

"  It  does  sound  a  bit  queer,"  the  professor  ad- 
mitted, "  and  yet,  it's  not  so  long  ago  since  Har- 
vard University  had  in  its  museum  a  '  specimen  ' 
of  a  mermaid." 

"What  was  it?  " 

"  It  was  a  mummied  young  monkey  down  to  the 
waist  sewed  on  to  the  tail  of  a  fish,  the  monkey's 
body  being  all  covered  with  fish  scales.  It  was  a 
marvelous  piece  of  Japanese  workmanship,  and 
the  naturalists  accepted  it  as  truth." 

"  What  a  fake!  "  exclaimed  the  boy.  "  I  won- 
der if  there  's  anything  like  that  in  our  Museum  at 
home. ' ' 

"  Probably  not.  I  doubt  if  a  hoax  like  that 
could  be  worked  nowadays,"  the  professor  re- 
sponded, rising  from  his  deck-chair  as  the  bugler 
blew  the  call  to  dinner. 

All  through  their  trip  along  the  Mediterranean, 
Perry  became  a  howitzer  of  questions  and  kept 
Antoine  and  his  uncle  busy  every  moment  that 
they  were  on  deck.  One  of  the  things  which  espe- 
cially caught  the  lad's  imagination  was  his  friend 
Antoine 's  picture  of  the  constant  risings  and  fall- 
ings of  the  great  sea  on  which  they  were  travel- 


104       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

ing,  so  that  Perry  began  to  think  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean as  a  huge  pond  which  came  and  went  with 
changes  in  geology,  being  sometimes  like  a  puddle 
in  the  roadside  on  a  showery  day,  and  sometimes 
a  vast  ocean  which  linked  together  the  waters  of 
the  world.  Antoine  had  whiled  away  many  hours 
of  the  trip  modeling  in  clay,  while  the  boy  watched 
his  skillful  fingers — the  Belgian  was  an  excel- 
lent sculptor — and  so,  when  one  day,  he  undertook 
to  explain  to  Perry  the  geological  changes  in  the 
Mediterranean,  he  brought  up  one  of  his  modeling 
boards.  Spreading  on  it  a  lump  of  clay,  he 
smoothed  it  out  and  began  the  story  of  the  forma- 
tion and  changes  of  the  great  inland  sea. 

"  At  first  the  world  was  all  fire,  all  fire,"  he 
said,  spreading  his  hands  above  the  board,  ' '  thick 
hot  mists,  so  dense  that  the  sun  could  not  shine 
through,  so  hot  that  the  rain  could  not  fall  as 
water,  but  was  turned  to  steam  as  it  came  near 
the  white-hot  earth.  There  was  no  land,  and  no 
sea,  then.  The  earth  was  without  form,  and  void. 
So  hundreds  of  millions  of  years  went  by. 

"  After  a  long  time,  so  long  a  time  that  we  can- 
not even  guess  how  long,  the  earth  began  to  get 
a  little  cooler,  and  a  crust  was  formed.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  land.  As  yet  it  was  only  a  shell 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     105 

that  vibrated  like  a  boiler-skin,  a  land  bordered  on 
every  side  by  oceans  that  hissed  and  steamed. " 

Antoine  swept  his  hand  across  the  clay,  until 
only  the  thinnest  layer  lay  on  the  surface  of  the 
board. 

"  So  land  began,"  he  repeated.  "  But  the 
crust  was  very  thin.  Even  the  attraction  of  the 
moon,  which  causes  the  tides,  would  rip  the  crust 
across,  the  molten  rock  would  well  up  through  the 
fissures,  and  the  whole  world  was  aglare  with  fire 
shining  red  and  reflected  on  the  low-hung  clouds 
of  swirling  steam.  Every  century  the  skin  of  land 
grew  slightly  thicker,  though  wrinkled  and  crum- 
pled by  the  constant  .wrench  and  cleavage,  first 
by  the  daily  tides,  then  by  the  spring  tides,  and 
at  last  it  remained  steadfast,  save  when  the  fre- 
quent volcanic  eruptions  and  earthquakes  cracked 
the  crust  across." 

"  It  must  have  been  awfully  thin!  "  exclaimed 
the  listener. 

"  Compared  with  the  size  of  the  earth,  that 
first  crust  was  thinner  than  a  tissue  made  of  spid- 
ers' webs  around  a  baseball,"  was  Antoine 's  re- 
ply. "  Little  by  little  it  grew  thicker,  however, 
until  parts  of  it  were  strong  enough  to  resist  the 
tides.  Over  these  stretches  of  land,  which  were 


106       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

the  first  continents,  the  radiation  of  heat  grew 
less,  and  when  the  mist  from  the  upper  air  con- 
densed into  rain,  it  was  allowed  to  fall,  instead 
of  being  turned  into  steam,  and  reached  the  earth 
at  last,  to  lie  there  a  bubbling  and  seething  body 
of  water,  almost  boiling  hot.  These  were  the  first 
river  and  lake  systems  of  the  world.  All,  of 
course,  have  gone ;  the  world  has  been  made  over, 
many,  many  times." 

"  There  was  no  life  then,  I  suppose?  "  hazarded 
the  boy. 

"  Not  at  first,  no,  no.  But,  even  to-day,  tiny 
one-celled  plants  have  been  found  living  in  hot 
springs  (170°)  that  are  not  far  from  boiling  point, 
and  it  must  have  been  at  some  early  time  in  that 
ocean,  as  it  grew  cooler,  that  life  began." 

"  And  whereabouts  was  that  first  continent?  " 

"  No  one  knows,  no  one,"  was  the  answer. 
"  The  largest  outcrop  of  the  oldest  or  Archaean 
rocks  is  in  Canada,  where  the  great  Laurentian 
Eange  tells  the  story  of  the  fire-made  earth  in 
its  granite  and  gneiss  deposits.  All  that  had  been 
deposited  upon  those  rocks  has  been  washed  away 
and  the  old  formation  is  laid  bare.  Then,  as  the 
land  and  seas  cooled  further,  the  hot  steaming 
mists  condensed  the  water  that  for  so  many  mil- 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     107 

lions  of  years  had  hung  in  clouds  of  vapor  over 
the  earth  and  torrential  rains  began  to  fall.  Thus 
the  huge  shallow  oceans  spread  over  the  globe, 
leaving  very  little  land.  This  was  the  Cambrian 
Period,  the  oldest  of  the  six  divisions  of  the  Paleo- 
zoic Era.  You  know  what  '  paleozoic  '  means, 
Perry?  " 

"  Sure,"  answered  the  boy,  "  the  oldest  life." 

"  Eight,  right.  Now,  in  the  Cambrian  Period, 
all  the  present  Mediterranean  was  upheaved, 
part  of  an  early  continent  that  included  all  of 
Africa,  Eastern  Europe  and  Asia.  Western 
Europe  was  a  shallow  sea.  In  the  next  Period, 
the  Ordovician,  there  was  a  further  change  and 
leveling.  The  Atlantic  reached  as  far  as  what  is 
now  Italy,  while  Greece  and  Asia  Minor  were  its 
coast  lands.  Siberia  was  sea,  then,  Perry,  and 
the  Indian  Ocean  was  land." 

The  lad  passed  his  hand  in  a  puzzled  way  across 
his  forehead. 

"It's  hard  enough  to  remember  geography 
now,"  he  said,  "  but  it  would  be  fierce  if  a  chap 
had  to  know  all  that  ancient  stuff  as  well !  ' ' 

Antoine  laughed  and  swept  his  hand  again 
across  the  clay. 

"  You  wouldn't  have  to  learn  much  geography 


108       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

around  this  part  of  the  world  during  the  next 
stage,  the  Silurian  Period/'  he  said,  "  because  it 
was  all  sea.  But,"  and  his  fingers  modeled  a 
plateau,  "  at  the  end  of  the  Silurian  Period  the 
land  rose  again,  and  when  all  these  changes  were 
complete,  two  things  had  happened.  Fish  had 
evolved  in  the  sea,  and  plants  had  appeared  on 
the  land. 

"  Then,"  he  continued,  "  came  the  Devonian 
Period,  when  the  Old  Bed  Sandstone  was  laid 
down  under  the  sea.  Curiously  enough,  Perry, 
except  for  a  small  range  of  hills  in  Scotland  and 
for  parts  of  Norway,  the  only  high  land  in  Eu- 
rope was  the  part  that  is  now  the  bed  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  the  very  land  over  which  we 
are  at  present  sailing,"  and  he  pointed  over  the 
vessel's  side. 

66  All  through  the  Devonian  Period  and  the 
next,  that  of  the  Coal  Forests  or  the  Carbonif- 
erous, the  sea  ate  steadily  into  the  land,  the  big 
Mediterranean  island  was  cut  in  two,  and  nearly 
all  the  world  became  a  dull,  hot,  dank  marsh,  with 
mosses  a  hundred  feet  high  and  huge  horse-tails 
five  feet  in  circumference.  There  were  no  sea- 
sons then,  summer  and  winter  were  the  same. 
There  was  no  movement  except  the  sluggish 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     109 

crawling  of  a  giant  salamander  or  the  flight  of 
a  large  primitive  insect.  Not  a  spot  of  color  ex- 
isted, not  the  song  of  a  single  bird.  The  Car- 
boniferous Period  ended  with  the  whole  of  Europe 
one  sinister  and  gloomy  marsh,  the  giant  vegeta- 
tion of  which  became  the  coal  we  use  to-day." 

"  Is  that  why  we  sometimes  find  things  that 
look  like  fern-leaves  in  coal?  "  queried  Perry. 

66  Yes,  yes,  they  are  fern  leaves,  for  in  the  Coal 
Forests  were  many  kinds  of  primitive  ferns. 

"  Then  came  the  Permian  revolution,"  and  An- 
toine's  nimble  fingers  began  to  put  the  clay  in 
great  masses  on  his  board.  "  Eeal  mountain 
ranges  began.  The  swamps  awoke  from  the  dark 
sleep  of  the  Coal-Forest  time  and  reared  them- 
selves into  plateaus,  the  shallow  seas  were  hurled 
into  deeper  beds,  and  though  the  Mediterranean 
again  became  a  sea,  yet  there  was  even  more  land 
surface  then  than  there  is  to-day. 

"  With  this  upheaving,  came  the  First  Age  of 
Cold.  The  coal-forests  died,  the  pine-trees  took 
their  places.  The  marshes  became  plains. 
Nearly  all  species  of  life  belonging  to  that  warm 
age  died.  The  Empire  of  the  Fishes  and  Amphib- 
ians ended.  The  Mediterranean  slowly  dimin- 
ished in  size  and  again  became  an  inland  sea, 


i  io      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

while  in  Europe  to  the  north,  Africa  to  the  south 
and  in  America,  beyond  the  Atlantic,  the  Empire 
of  the  Keptiles  began. 

"  The  Middle  Ages  of  the  Earth  had  come, 
known  as  the  Mesozoic  Era.  The  Mediterranean 
held  its  place  as  an  inland  sea,  as  one  might  well 
expect,  since  it  was  sea  during  the  Permian  times 
when  most  of  the  world  was  high,  but  all  through 
the  Triassic — which  is  the  first  Period  of  the  Me- 
sozoic Era — the  land  began  to  fall,  and  before  it 
was  over,  the  Mediterranean  joined  the  Atlantic 
once  again.  Slowly  the  land  fell  further,  the  sea 
spread  out  vast  arms  of  warm  water;  plants  and 
animals  increased.  By  the  Jurassic  Period  there 
was  marsh  again  from  Norway  to  Africa  and  the 
huge  dinosaurs  became  the  masters  of  the  world, 
living  on  the  islands  and  peninsulas  in  the  midst 
of  that  shallow  tropical  sea. 

"  Yet  the  slow  death  of  cold  which  had  awaited 
the  Fishes  and  Amphibians  in  the  Permian  Bevo- 
lution  was  awaiting  the  Eeptiles  also.  The  Sec- 
ond Age  of  Cold  was  near.  After  the  Cretaceous 
Period,  the  land  began  to  rise,  until,  when  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  years  had  elapsed,  the  north- 
ern part  of  Europe  was  elevated,  the  Mediter- 
ranean lost  its  opening  to  the  ocean,  and  became 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     in 

once  more  an  inland  sea.  Then  came  the  Second 
Ice  Age,  the  second  cataclysm  of  want  and  death. 
The  Pterodactyls  died  away  completely,  the  huge 
reptile  monsters  fell  by  thousands  and  all  the 
giant  Saurians  had  to  give  place  to  the  warmer- 
blooded  mammals. 

"  So  came  the  Age  of  New  Life,  the  Cenozoio 
Era,  of  which  only  the  first  portion  or  the  Ter- 
tiary Period  concerns  us  now.  During  the 
Eocene  Epoch  began  the  leveling  and  wearing 
away  of  the  land  raised  at  the  end  of  the  Age 
of  Chalk.  Almost  to  the  Equator,  Africa  was 
flooded.  Italy,  Turkey,  Southern  Russia  and  Asia 
Minor  sank.  The  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  joined 
then,  as  they  would  not  be  joined  again  for  mil- 
lions of  years  to  come,  when  Man  should  pierce 
an  isthmus  at  Panama. 

"  Then,  after  the  Oligocene  Epoch,  the  moun- 
tains of  to-day  began  to  rise.  Through  the 
Miocene  and  Pliocene  Epochs,  the  Atlas  Moun- 
tains, the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Apennines  and 
the  Caucasus  rose  above  the  plain,  and  the  floor 
of  the  Eocene  ocean  is  found  to-day  ten  thousand 
feet  above  sea-level  in  the  Alps,  fifteen  thousand 
feet  above  sea-level  in  the  Himalayas,  and  twenty 
thousand  feet  above  sea-level  in  Thibet.  And, 


ii2       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Perry,  as  the  land  rose  at  the  end  of  the  Pliocene 
Epoch,  and  the  Pleistocene  Epoch  began,  tropi- 
cal beasts  and  plants  fled  to  the  Equator,  snow 
gathered  on  the  newly  made  mountain  ranges, 
glaciers  glittered  on  their  flanks.  The  Third  Ice 
Age  had  come,  the  beginning  of  the  Quarternary 
or  Modern  Period.  Nor  is  the  Third  Ice  Age  yet 
past,  for  it  is  only  recently  that  the  shrinking 
of  the  ice  has  allowed  Man  to  stand  on  the  North 
and  South  Poles  of  the  globe. " 

"  Perry!  "  suddenly  rang  out  a  cry,  with  a  note 
of  strident  urgency,  "  get  me  my  field-glass, 
quick!  " 

Wondering,  but  realizing  the  note  of  haste  in 
the  command,  the  boy  jumped  into  full  stride 
along  the  deck  and  down  the  companion  way. 
He  was  back  in  half  a  minute,  taking  the  glass 
out  of  the  case  as  he  ran.  Already  the  rail  was 
crowded  with  figures,  but  they  made  way  for  him. 
He  handed  the  field-glass  breathlessly  to  the  pro- 
fessor, and  looked,  with  an  intensity  that  made 
his  eyes  burn,  in  the  direction  whither  the  binocu- 
lar was  pointing. 

"  It's  a  boat,"  he  said,  "  a  little  boat;  no,  two 
boats;  no,  three — " 

He  clutched  his  uncle's  arm. 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     113 

"  Those  aren't  boats — "  he  began,  and  stopped. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  the  even  blue 
ripples  of  the  great  inland  sea  were  broken  by 
something  black  that  seemed  to  be  advancing  on 
the  ship,  moving  on  a  line  that  converged  upon 
the  vessel's  course.  Excitement  sent  the  boy's 
heart  thumping  like  the  engines  of  the  steamer, 
and  when,  a  moment  later,  without  a  word,  his 
uncle  handed  the  glass  to  him,  his  hands  shook 
so  much  that  he  could  hardly  focus  the  instru- 
ment. 

There  leaped  into  view,  in  the  field  of  the  glass, 
a  broad  head,  something  like  that  of  a  seal,  but 
poised  upon  a  thick,  long  neck.  He  could  have 
sworn  there  were  long  coils  behind,  but  he  could 
not  see  them. 

"  The  Dcedalus—"  he  half  panted. 

"  My  camera I"  came  a   second  crisp   order. 

Perry  handed  back  the  glass,  which  the  profes- 
sor almost  snatched  from  his  grasp. 

If  the  boy  had  hurried  the  first  time  for  the  bin- 
ocular, he  made  the  decks  burn  on  his  second  trip. 
He  knew  that  the  professor's  big  camera  would 
take  valuable  time  to  unpack,  so  he  fairly  raced 
along  the  stateroom  corridors  to  his  own  cabin  for 
his  own  small  camera,  and  he  thanked  his  lucky 


ii4       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

stars,  as  he  ran,  that  he  had  put  in  a  new  roll  of 
film  that  morning. 

He  could  not  have  gone  faster,  hut,  when  he 
returned,  his  uncle  was  sweeping  the  horizon  with 
the  glass  in  a  way  that  showed  all  too  plainly  that 
the  object  of  search  was  no  longer  in  view. 

"  Gone!  "  he  cried,  in  apprehension. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  professor,  "  gone!  " 

"  But  it  must  be  there!    We  both  saw  it!  " 

"I  thought  I  saw—" 

"  There!  Uncle  George!  Over  there!  There 
it  is  again!  ' 

Perry  pointed  almost  directly  abeam  of  the 
vessel. 

The  scientist  looked,  and  shook  his  head. 

"  You  try,"  he  said,  and  handed  the  glass  to  the 
boy. 

The  lad  rested  his  elbows  on  the  rail  to  steady 
his  shaking  hands,  but  whatever  the  object  was 
that  he  thought  he  had  seen,  he  could  not  find  in 
the  glass. 

"If  I'd  only  had  my  camera  with  me!  "  he 
mourned. 

"  It  was  too  far  away  for  anything  to  have 
shown  on  the  plate,"  his  uncle  responded,  "and, 
perhaps,  there  was  nothing  there  to  show.  Light 


SEEING  THE  SEA-SERPENT     115 

plays  some  strange  tricks  sometimes.  The  rec- 
ords of  the  sea  are  full  of  just  such  appearances 
as  this.  But  they  are  never  near  enough,  or  ex- 
act enough,  for  science  to  use.  Still,  you're  be- 
ginning young,  Perry,  and  maybe  you'll  be  the 
first  to  catch  him." 

"  He  might  come  up  again,"  the  lad  cried 
eagerly. 

"  He  might,"  was  the  guarded  reply. 

But,  though  from  that  time  Perry  scarcely  left 
the  ship's  rail,  even  for  meals,  until  the  ship  was 
docked,  and  though  he  slept  with  field-glass  and 
camera  within  his  grasp,  the  sea-serpent,  if  such 
it  was,  was  seen  no  more. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   MAD  ABTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX 

* '  ONE  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World  stood 
there,  Perry, "  said  the  lad's  uncle,  as  the  steamer 
came  into  the  port  of  Alexandria,  pointing  to  a 
'small  mosque  with  lofty  pointing  minarets,  on  the 
little  island  of  Pharos.  "  That  is  where  the 
Pharos  was  built,  the  first  of  all  the  large  light- 
houses of  the  world." 

"  IVe  seen  pictures  of  it,  Uncle  George,"  re- 
sponded the  boy;  "  it  didn't  seem  so  very  wonder- 
ful." 

"  Yet  it  was  the  first,"  the  scientist  reminded 
him,  "  and  in  those  days,  the  Mediterranean  was 
as  much  dreaded  as  Cape  Horn  waters  are  to-day, 
and  more.  Upon  that  little  island  stood  Man's 
initial  challenge  to  the  elements.  Before  it  was 
erected,  a  sailor  could  only  reach  harbor  in  day- 
light and  when  the  elements  were  kind,  but  after 
the  building  of  the  Pharos,  Man's  will  blazed  high 
above  the  fury  of  the  storm.  It  was  the  fiery  sign 

116 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     117 

that  Man  was  greater  than  the  tempest  and 
flaunted  his  defiance  to  the  angry  waves." 

'"  The  first  to  dare — "  said  the  boy,  feeling  his 
pulse  quickening;  "  yes,  that  does  make  it  great." 

"  To  me,  that  is  the  spell  of  Egypt,"  continued 
the  scientist.  ' l  Everywhere,  in  this  old  land,  one 
has  a  feeling  of  a  world  which  dates  back  so  long 
ago  that  to  the  dwellers  of  that  time,  the  simplest 
things  were  a  reckless  adventure.  They  blazed 
the  trail  for  civilization,  those  ancient  Egyptians, 
and  the  thrill  of  the  Valley  of  the  Nile  lies  in  the 
fact  that  one  can  see  those  blaze-marks  still." 

"  Where?" 

"  Everywhere.  Not  only  in  the  temples  and 
the  pyramids,  but  in  the  people  themselves.  It 
is  a  haunted  land,  Perry,  haunted  by  Pharaohs  as 
other  lands  are  haunted  by  fairies,  and  the  spell 
always  holds  fast.  I  have  been  here  before,  and 
still  I  am  almost  as  eager  as  you  can  be  to  step 
ashore  in  Egypt  once  again." 

"  It's  all  so  new  to  me,"  the  boy  said,  hungrily. 

"  It  won't  seem  new,"  his  uncle  rejoined. 
"  Once  you  have  known  the  call  of  Egypt,  you 
will  feel  as  though  you  were  returning  to  a  long- 
forgotten  home.  You  will  see.  But  you  will  not 
feel  it  in  Alexandria.  You  must  wait." 


ii8       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  warning  not  to  expect  too  much  of  Alex- 
andria came  in  time  to  save  Perry  from  a  grievous 
disappointment,  for,  as  he  confided  to  Antoine,  a 
few  hours  later,  during  all  the  yelling  bustle  of 
docking  and  customs  examination,  commercial 
Alexandria  was  not  an  Egyptian  city  at  all. 

"  It's  like  Genoa,"  the  boy  remarked,  half -in- 
dignantly, recalling  that  busy  port  at  which  the 
steamer  had  stopped  for  a  few  hours  on  the  way 
down  the  Mediterranean,  "  and  I  haven't  heard  a 
word  of  anything  but  Italian  since  we  landed!  ' 

His  tone  implied  that  he  was  being  cheated,  and 
his  friend  laughed. 

"  Yes,  yes,  Alexandria  isn't  Egyptian/'  he  said. 
"  It  wasn't  built  until  long  after  Egypt's  glory 
had  decayed.  The  time  of  Alexandria's  greatness 
was  when  she  was  a  Eoman  colony,  and  Borne  is 
Italy." 

"  Well,  I  want  Egypt!  "  declared  Perry,  with 
the  characteristic  insistence  of  his  years. 

"  You'll  get  plenty  of  *  Egypt/  as  you  call  it," 
his  friend  cautioned.  "  I  shouldn't  be  at  all  sur- 
prised, Perry,  if,  in  the  desert,  you  didn't  wish 
many  a  time  for  this  climate  of  Alexandria,  where 
it  can  be  cool  and  rainy  and  where  even  wild- 
flowers  grow."  He  pointed  to  some  flowering 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     119 

weeds.  "  You'll  be  hungry  for  a  sight  of  some- 
thing fresh  and  full  of  life  like  that  before  you've 
finished  this  trip." 

"  P'raps!  But  I  don't  care  how  soon  the  des- 
ert comes,"  insisted  Perry.  "  I  don't  think 
much  of  this!  "  And  he  awaited  with  impatience 
the  starting  of  the  train  to  Cairo. 

Soon,  however,  his  mood  changed.  As  the 
train  cleared  the  villas  of  the  suburbs  of  Alex- 
andria, skirting  the  coast,  curved  round  the  north- 
ern edge  of  Lake  Maryut  and  struck  across  the 
Delta,  his  momentary  peevishness  at  the  non- 
Egyptian  character  of  Alexandria  vanished.  A 
glimpse  of  a  stream  with  a  forest  of  masts  and 
yards  that  looked  like  things  of  a  dream,  so  slen- 
der were  they,  wrung  from  him  an  exclamation 
of  astonishment. 

"  Look,  Antoine,"  he  said,  "there's  the  old 
Nile!  " 

l'  No,  no,"  answered  the  other,  "  that's  the 
Mahmoudieh  Canal.  And  it's  not  old,  it's  quite 
new,  not  a  century  old  yet.  It  is  the  canal  that 
has  made  Alexandria  the  principal  port  of  Egypt 
instead  of  the  old  Egyptian  ports  of  Eosetta  and 
Damietta.  The  traffic  on  the  canal  is  exceedingly 
heavy." 


THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

* '  And  are  those  spidery  things  the  masts  of 
ships  on  the  canal?  " 

"  Why  not?  " 

"  They  look  as  if  the  first  puff  of  wind  would 
snap  every  one  of  them." 

"  Yet  they  are  masts,  Perry,  the  spars  of  the 
gyassas  or  barges.  They  do  look  as  though  they 
were  made  of  spider  webs,  but  I  suppose  they 
must  be  strong.  All  the  Nile  barges  are  built  that 
way." 

The  tall  gyassas  partly  comforted  Perry  for 
the  noisy  bustle  of  the  Alexandrian  wharves,  but 
his  content  was  complete  when,  as  the  train  turned 
to  the  southward,  he  saw  in  the  distance  a  camel 
outlined  against  the  sky-line.  He  felt  that  at  last 
he  really  was  in  Egypt. 

The  train  was  bowling  along  rapidly  over  the 
outer  stretches  of  the  Delta  and  its  alternate 
patches  of  desert,  marsh  and  cotton  field,  with  a 
few  mud  huts  here  and  there,  when,  even  above 
the  clatter  of  the  train,  there  came  a  hideous 
squeaking  rattle. 

"  What  in  the  wide  world  is  that  racket!  "  he 
ejaculated. 

"  Probably  a  sakiyeh,"  was  the  reply. 

"  What's  a  sakiyeh?  " 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     121 

"  An  old  water-wheel.  You'll  see  it  in  a  sec- 
ond. " 

Then,  a  moment  later,  his  friend  added, 

"  I  thought  so,"  and  pointed  to  where  a  fellah, 
or  laborer,  in  his  blue  galabeah — which  Perry  in- 
elegantly declared  to  be  a  nightshirt — stood  beside 
the  creaking  water-wheel  while  a  water-buffalo 
toilsomely  trod  round  to  raise  the  water  to  irri- 
gate the  land.  The  fellah  looked  up  as  the  train 
sped  by,  and  thus  Perry  caught  his  first  glimpse 
of  peasant  labor. 

"  When  Joseph  was  sold  by  his  brethren  into 
Egypt,"  remarked  Antoine,  "  he  probably  saw 
sakiyehs  being  worked  just  that  way.  Very  little 
has  changed  since." 

"  And  those  mud  huts?  " 

"  The  Children  of  Israel  made  bricks  without 
straw,"  the  other  reminded  him.  "  Bricks  are 
only  baked  mud." 

Perry  stared  out  of  the  window,  thinking. 
What  the  professor  had  said,  came  back  to  him — 
"blaze-marks  along  the  trail  to  civilization." 
That  was  the  trick  of  Egypt. 

The  landscape  was  flat  and  uninteresting.  As 
the  train  sped  on,  there  was  less  desert  and  less 
marsh,  the  cultivated  cotton  fields  grew  thicker, 


122       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

there  were  more  mud  huts.  Here  and  there  a 
cluster  of  huts  centered  around  a  small  mosque, 
with  its  graceful  minaret.  Occasionally  small 
structures — which  Antoine  told  him  were  saints' 
tombs — broke  the  level,  but  aside  from  these,  the 
lands  of  the  Nile  delta  were  level  and  monotonous. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all,  they  were  curiously  vibrating, 
and  after  a  while  Perry  realized  that  this  was 
due  to  the  sun,  which  flooded  the  country  with  a 
light  so  intense  that  it  seemed  brighter  than  sun- 
light. 

The  train  roared  across  a  sluggish  stream,  with 
a  gyassa  in  full  sail  upon  it. 

"  The  Eosetta  branch  of  the  Nile,"  said  An- 
toine. 

Perry  had  nothing  to  say.  It  was  not  the  pic- 
ture he  had  formed  in  his  mind  of  the  Nile,  but 
there  was  something  about  it,  something  in- 
calculably old,  as  though  the  river  were  very  aged 
and  had  fallen  asleep.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
Eosetta  branch,  all  the  land  was  under  cultiva- 
tion. Cotton-cleaning  mills,  dotted  here  and 
there,  took  away  even  the  quiet  romance  of  the 
first  part  of  the  journey,  and  Perry  was  glad  when 
at  Bulak  they  crossed  the  Nile  proper  and  the 
train  sped  swiftly  on  its  way  to  Cairo. 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     123 

"  Don't  get  disappointed  in  Cairo  right  away," 
said  Antoine  to  him,  as  they  neared  the  suburbs. 
"  Cairo  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  cities  in 
the  world,  but  not  around  the  railway  station,  nor 
near  the  hotel.  We  're  going  to  be  in  Cairo  several 
days,  so  you  will  have  a  chance  to  see  all  you 
want  of  it." 

But  this  time  Perry  was  not  disappointed. 
The  railway  station  could  not  be  other  but  mod- 
ern, but  in  the  throngs  about  it  there  was  so  much 
movement,  so  much  color,  so  much  flavor  of  the 
East  that  the  boy  breathed  a  great  sigh  of  relief. 
It  was  all  true.  He  was  not  dreaming.  The 
world  of  the  Orient  was  not  all  made  new.  The 
City  of  the  Arabian  Nights  was  still  full  of  mys- 
tery. He  climbed  into  a  two-horse  arabeah  with 
Antoine,  all  a-quiver  with  excitement,  was  driven 
to  the  hotel,  and,  after  the  four-hour  journey  in 
the  train,  was  eager  to  be  up  and  doing. 

At  lunch  his  uncle  said, 

"  Perry,  I  am  going  to  be  busy  all  this  after- 
noon, and  if  you  want  to  do  some  sight-seeing, 
now's  your  chance.  Ill  leave  you  in  Antoine 's 
charge,  and  you'd  better  stick  close  to  him,  for 
Cairo's  the  easiest  city  to  get  lost  in  that  I  know." 

He  turned  to  Antoine. 


124       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  You  know  Cairo,  I  think?  " 

"  Many  years  ago  I  knew  it  well,"  the  other 
answered. 

The  professor  smiled. 

' l  If  you  had  known  it  well  many  hundred  years 
ago,"  he  said,  "  it  would  do  just  as  well.  The 
places  worth  seeing  haven't  changed." 

Once  out  of  the  European  section,  and  in  the 
Arab  quarter,  Perry  found  the  real  city  of  his 
imaginings,  with  its  queer  crooked  streets,  blind 
walls  and  a  maze  of  windows  masked  with  wooden 
trellis-work  through  which  one  could  look  outside 
from  within,  but  not  inside  from  without.  Perry 
plied  Antoine  with  questions  almost  without  ceas- 
ing, and  it  was  a  very  weary  guide  who  safely  de- 
posited a  much-excited  boy  in  the  hotel  shortly 
before  dinner-time.  The  lad  was  eager  to  go  out 
again  in  the  evening,  but  sleep  took  precedence, 
and  he  rioted  in  dreams  till  morning. 

The  next  day,  again  with  Antoijie,  Perry  went 
to  see  the  great  citadel,  which  had  been  built  by 
Saladin,  the  Saracen  conqueror  immortalized  in 
"  The  Talisman."  He  visited  the  great  Moham- 
medan university,  entered  a  score  of  mosques,  in 
every  case  leaving  his  shoes  outside  as  is  required 
by  custom,  and  took  particular  delight  in  one  old 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     125 

place  known  as  the  "  Needle's  Eye,"  which  had 
been  walled  up  recently. 

"  Why  was  it  closed,  Antoine?  "  he  asked. 

His  informant  smiled. 

"  There  was  a  tradition,"  was  the  reply,  "  that 
although  it  was  quite  narrow,  every  one  who  was 
honest  could  squeeze  through.  Ismail,  one  of  the 
governors,  was  very  stout,  and,  evidently  having 
more  faith  in  the  laws  of  physics  than  in  super- 
stition, decided  that  he  would  not  put  his  repu- 
tation for  honesty  to  the  test  of  his  bulk.  Ac- 
cordingly he  had  it  walled  up." 

Under  Antoine's  guidance,  Perry  quickly  saw 
most  of  the  worth-while  parts  of  Cairo,  and  his 
cup  of  delight  brimmed  over  when  his  guide  se- 
cured permission  for  him  to  see  Cairo  at  night, 
and  took  him  through  the  old  bazaars,  agleam  with 
light  and  merriment.  Antoine  skillfully  guided 
him  through  the  unspoiled  native  quarters,  and 
avoided  the  half-and-half  tourist  section  where  a 
forced  and  unnatural  gayety  gives  strangers  a 
false  idea  of  the  old  capital  of  Egypt  under  the 
caliphs. 

"  Perry,"  said  his  uncle  to  him  the  following 
morning,  "  you'd  better  come  along  with  me  to- 
day. I've  had  good  news.  The  Survey  is  going 


126       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

to  lend  me  much  of  their  equipment  and  one  of 
their  experts  will  accompany  us.  The  Viceroy  has 
been  exceedingly  kind  and  given  me  every  oppor- 
tunity I  could  have  wished,  and  instead  of  being 
compelled  to  spend  a  week  in  Cairo,  we're  going 
to  start  over  the  desert  to-morrow. " 

"  How  are  we  going,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  On  camels." 

"  On  camels!  "  Only  the  fact  that  he  was  at- 
tached to  a  Museum  expedition  kept  Perry  from 
doing  a  war-dance  on  the  spot.  "  And  am  I  go- 
ing to  ride  on  a  camel?  " 

"  You're  certainly  not  going  to  ride  on  any- 
thing else.  What  do  you  suppose  you're  going 
to  ride,  a  broncho?  You  seem  to  forget  that  this 
is  Egypt,  my  boy." 

"  But  a  camel,  a  real,  live  camel.    Gee!  " 

"  Maybe  you  won't  like  it  so  well  after  a  while," 
retorted  his  uncle  with  a  grim  smile.  He  had  rid- 
den camels  before. 

"Oh,  won't  I!" 

4i  We'll  see  to-morrow  night." 

"  Why,  Uncle  George?    Do  they  buck?  " 

"  I  never  saw  a  camel  try  to  buck,"  the  pro- 
fessor answered.  "  On  the  whole,  I  think  it's 
fortunate  they've  never  learned  the  trick.  Here's 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     127 

the  camel  market  now.  Tell  me  what  you  think 
of  them,  Perry." 

It  might  have  been  the  camel  market,  but  it 
sounded  like  Bedlam.  No  sooner  did  the  profes- 
sor appear  than  the  camel-drivers  were  round 
him  like  a  swarm  of  flies,  and  the  Egyptian  Sur- 
vey expert,  who  had  arranged  to  meet  him  there, 
had  to  shoulder  the  natives  away  like  sheep  in 
order  to  get  through  to  his  friend. 

A  nearer  view  of  the  camels  decided  Perry  that 
the  Ship  of  the  Desert  did  not  look  nearly  as 
peaceful  in  real  life  as  in  pictures.  The  beasts 
had  an  ugly  trick  of  lifting  the  upper  lip  and 
showing  big  teeth  that  was  quite  disconcerting. 
Nor  did  the  boy  fail  to  note  that  a  number  of  the 
camels  were  strongly  muzzled. 

' '  Do  camels  bite,  Uncle  George  ?  ' '  Perry  asked, 
as  soon  as  the  palaver  was  over,  and  the  Survey 
expert  had  not  only  chosen  the  camels  he  wanted 
but  also  driven  off  the  men  who  had  not  been 
hired — a  much  harder  task. 

"  Some  of  them  do,"  was  the  reply.  "  A 
camel  can  be  one  of  the  most  vicious  beasts  of 
burden  in  the  world.  You  remember  Kipling's 
famous  verses  about  the  '  'oont,  the  commissariat 
'oont!  '  " 


i28       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  No,"  honestly  answered  Perry,  "  I  don't." 

11  Learn  them  when  you  get  home,"  advised 
the  professor,  "  there's  probably  a  copy  in  the 
hotel  library.  It'll  give  you  something  to  say  to- 
morrow, when  you  want  to  express  your  feelings. 
I  know  camels !  ' 9 

"  Never  you  mind,  Perry,"  said  the  govern- 
ment survey  expert,  who  was  to  join  the  expedi- 
tion, a  keen  young  fellow  named  Arnold  Wyr, 
"I've  picked  out  a  bunch  that  won't  give  much 
trouble.  But  your  uncle's  right  about  camels. 
As  a  general  rule,  they're  a  jolly  mean  beast  to 
handle.  Still,  desert  work  is  impossible  without 
them." 

"  Couldn't  donkeys  do  instead?  " 

The  other  shook  his  head. 

"  A  donkey  can  get  along  on  poor  pickings, 
when  it  comes  to  food,  but  he's  got  to  have  water, 
you  know.  No,  for  desert  work,  the  camel  is  the 
only  creature  that  can  stand  it.  A  day  without 
water  doesn't  hurt  a  camel,  but  it  will  cripple  a 
donkey  and  kill  a  horse.  The  camel  is  well- 
enough  suited  to  his  job,  but  he's  not  a  bally  arm- 
chair. I  hope  you're  jolly  well  seasoned." 

"Why?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  Because  you  need  to  be,  in  order  to  stand 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     129 

your  first  few  hours  on  camel  back.  You'd  bet- 
ter take  a  jolly  good  rest  to-day. " 

"  I  wasn't  planning  to  rest  to-day  at  all,"  re- 
sponded Perry.  Then,  turning  to  the  professor, 
he  continued, 

"Uncle  George,  when  are  we  going  to  the 
Pyramids?  " 

"I'm  sure  I  don't  know,  now,"  was  the  reply. 
"  I  had  planned  to  give  to-morrow  to  sight-see- 
ing, but  as  we  shall  be  able  to  start  for  the  desert 
to-morrow,  thanks  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Egyptian 
Survey,  I  think  I'll  give  up  the  idea  of  visiting 
them  now.  Perhaps  we'll  have  time  on  the  way 
back." 

"  Are  we  going  to  be  anywhere  near  the  Pyra- 
mids to-night  I  " 

"  Eight  at  them.  We're  leaving  this  afternoon 
for  the  hotel  close  by.  The  caravan  will  meet  us 
there  in  the  morning." 

The  boy  looked  impatiently  toward  the  expert, 
who  was  still  wrangling  with  a  camel-driver. 

11  I  wish  Mr.  Wyr  would  hurry,"  he  confided 
to  his  uncle  in  a  low  tone.  "  I  want  to  get  out 
and  see  the  Pyramids." 

In  spite  of  the  lowering  of  the  tone,  however, 
the  other  heard  him. 


130       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Sorry,  but  there  isn't  even  any  word  for 
'  hurry  '  in  Arabic,''  lie  said  good-humoredly. 
"  You're  like  the  rest  of  the  Americans,  Perry, 
you  jolly  well  want  everything  done  at  once.  In 
the  East,  you  know,  you've  got  to  use  the  methods 
of  the  East." 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  intrude,"  said  the  lad,  flush- 
ing, "  but  I  do  so  want  to  go.  It's  all  like  feel- 
ing a  dream  come  true." 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  of  that  feeling,  I  think," 
said  his  uncle,  coming  to  the  boy's  aid.  "  I  know, 
I,  for  one,  feel  strange.  I  suppose  if  this  were 
merely  a  pleasure  trip,  the  hiring  of  camels  and 
so  forth  might  seem  more  or  less  natural.  But, 
after  all,  this  is  an  American  Museum  expedition 
for  fossil-hunting,  and  I've  equipped  a  score  of 
expeditions  for  just  such  purposes,  out  West. 
There,  Mr.  Wyr,  it  would  seem  quite  natural  to 
hire  cow-ponies  or  mules  in  some  little  jerk-water 
town,  where  there  would  be  nothing  but  a  bunch  of 
frame  houses,  a  general  store,  a  couple  of  churches 
and  half  a  dozen  saloons.  Two  or  three  cowboys 
riding  in  from  the  range,  shooting  up  the  town, 
wouldn't  surprise  me  a  bit,  I'm  more  or  less  used 
to  that.  But  these  bazaars  of  Cairo  are  so  far 
removed  from  that  picture  that  I  can  hardly  be- 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     131 

lieve  that  I'm  really  equipping  a  paleontological 
expedition. " 

The  Englishman  smiled  understandingly. 

61  I  should  feel  the  same  way  if  I  were  out  in 
your  Wild  West,"  he  said,  "  and  a  few  '  cowboys, 
shooting  up  the  town/  as  you  call  it,  would  seem 
to  me  jolly  well  like  a  circus  performance.  I 
should  be  as  much  out  of  it  making  arrangements 
there,  as  you  feel  here.  But  I  think  you'll  find, 
Dr.  Hunt,  that  the  men  and  animals  I  have  hired 
will  be  satisfactory,  that  is,  as  satisfactory  as 
can  be  expected  in  the  East.  We're  not  what  you 
call  '  hustlers/  in  Egypt,  you  know." 

"  I  think  you  English  have  done  wonders, "  the 
scientist  replied,  "  look  at  the  Assouan  Dam," 
and  the  talk  drifted  into  the  ever-important  ques- 
tion of  the  irrigation  problems  of  the  Nile. 

Perry  was  impatient,  but  he  did  his  best  not  to 
show  it,  and  in  the  meantime  was  thinking  hard. 
As  soon  as  the  party  returned  to  the  hotel,  he 
slipped  away  and  had  an  earnest  conversation 
with  one  of  the  hotel  guides.  He  turned  up  at 
lunch  half  an  hour  later,  with  a  suspiciously  in- 
nocent look.  His  uncle,  who  had  begun  to  under- 
stand the  lad,  said  to  him  suddenly, 

"  What  have  you  got  up  your  sleeve,  Perry?  " 


132       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  I  was  thinking,"  the  boy  answered,  "  that, 
if  you  didn't  mind,  I'd  like  to  go  over  to  the  Pyra- 
mids this  afternoon." 

"  With  Antoine?    Certainly.    Why  not?  " 

"  Antoine's  busy,"  Perry  responded.  "  I 
wanted  to  go  alone." 

The  professor  shook  his  head  dubiously. 

"But,  Uncle  George,"  pleaded  the  lad,  "I 
could  take  the  trolley  right  there.  It's  quite  an 
easy  trip  and  I  can  join  you  at  the  hotel  for  din- 


ner." 


"  What  do  you  think,  Antoine?  "  queried  the 
leader  of  the  expedition,  and  Perry  felt  easier, 
for  he  knew  that  Antoine  always  was  on  his  side. 

"  He  cannot  get  lost,  Dr.  Hunt,"  said  the  other, 
"  it  is  a  straight,  broad  road  all  the  way." 

"  All  right,  then,"  said  the  professor.  "  An- 
toine knows  this  part  of  the  world.  Go  ahead! 
I  wouldn't  like  to  let  you  roam  around  alone  in 
the  Arab  quarters  of  the  city,  but  aside  from  that, 
you're  old  enough  to  go  where  you  please.  Only, 
don't  forget  that  you're  to  join  us  at  dinner  at 
six-thirty. ' ' 

The  rest  of  Perry's  lunch  took  but  a  few  mo- 
ments to  swallow  and  he  excused  himself  from  the 
table  in  a  hurry.  He  had  hardly  unpacked  any- 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     133 

thing  in  Cairo,  so  it  was  only  the  work  of  a  min- 
ute or  two  to  put  back  in  his  suit-case  the  few 
articles  that  had  been  taken  out.  He  took  it  to 
his  uncle's  room,  left  it  with  the  other  luggage 
that  was  to  be  sent  that  afternoon  to  the  hotel 
beside  the  Pyramids,  and  was  off.  He  boarded 
a  trolley  car  for  Ghizeh,  but  left  the  car  after 
crossing  the  Nile,  at  the  opening  of  the  great  road 
bordered  with  shade-giving  lebbek  trees  that  leads 
straight  from  Cairo  to  Ghizeh.  One  of  his  fel- 
low-passengers remarked  that  it  wasn't  consid- 
ered wise  in  Egypt  to  walk  when  there  was  a 
chance  to  ride,  but  Perry,  with  American  inde- 
pendence, decided  that  he  would  go  ahead  in  spite 
of  any  advice,  however  well-meant,  and  set  out 
alone  along  the  road. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  well-trodden  road  in  the 
world  more  picturesque  than  the  road  between 
Cairo  and  Ghizeh.  From  all  the  deserts  to  the 
west  come  the  caravans  to  Cairo,  the  old  capital 
of  Egypt  throughout  the  centuries  of  Mohamme- 
dan rule.  This  was  the  first  time  that  Perry 
had  been  alone  since  his  arrival  on  the  shores 
of  Africa,  and  the  spirit  of  adventure  was  strong 
upon  him. 

There  came  towards  him  a  long  train  of  camels, 


i34       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

heavily  laden,  bringing  loads  of  dates  from  some 
oasis  far  beyond  the  horizon.  He  longed  for  a 
knowledge  of  Arabic  that  he  might  be  able  to 
question  the  white-robed  leaders  of  the  camels 
concerning  their  lives  beyond  that  waste  of  sand ; 
and  started,  with  a  sudden  shock,  as  a  loud  '  *  honk 
honk  "  behind  him  caused  him  to  turn  and  see 
a  motor-car  of  the  very  latest  model  come  rac- 
ing by. 

He  met  itinerant  cooks,  carrying  their  kitchens 
with  them,  ready  to  squat  on  the  roadside  and 
cook  a  meal  for  a  hungry  passer-by,  and  the  boy 
had  to  rub  his  eyes  when  he  looked  from  them 
to  the  gleaming  metals  of  the  trolley-car  line.  An 
Egyptian  cavalry  officer,  resplendent  in  gold  lace, 
cantering  towards  the  town,  smiled  at  the  trudg- 
ing lad,  while  fellahs  in  tarboosh  and  galabeah 
stalked  by  unheeding.  Here  and  there  a  hadj  or 
holy  pilgrim  passed,  his  green  turban  showing 
that  he  had  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  the 
place  of  Mohammed's  death.  For  quite  a  space 
the  road  seemed  to  be  the  highway  of  the  orient 
alone,  and  then  there  came  towards  him  a  car- 
riage, with  two  prettily  gowned  women,  probably, 
Perry  thought,  the  wife  and  daughter  of  some 
English  Government  official,  and  these,  too,  smiled 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     135 

at  the  lithe  American  lad  swinging  along  with 
eagerness  and  wonder  in  his  step. 

The  shafts  of  white  light,  as  they  pierced  be- 
tween the  interstices  of  the  trees  were  dazzling, 
so  bright,  indeed,  that  the  light  seemed  to  hide 
rather  than  to  reveal.  Perry  overtook  an  old 
man,  evidently  an  artist,  with  portable  easel  and 
canvas,  who  was  walking  slowly,  very  slowly, 
along  the  road.  He  had  not  passed  him  more 
than  five  minutes,  when,  before  him,  at  the  end 
of  the  road,  seen  through  the  long  line  of  trees, 
a  faint  blue  object  shimmered  against  the  deep- 
blue  sky.  In  the  hot  and  wavering  air  it  seemed 
to  float.  The  boy  stopped  dead. 

Little  by  little,  as  his  eye  took  a  steadier  focus, 
the  Great  Pyramid  of  Cheops  revealed  itself  to 
him,  as  do  scenes  in  misty  pictures.  He  stood 
rooted  to  the  spot. 

A  hoarse  voice,  that  yet  seemed  to  have  a  child's 
eagerness  in  its  tones,  spoke  over  his  shoulder. 

"  What  does  it  make  you  think  of  I  "  said  the 
voice. 

"  It's  like  Euclid  turned  into  music,"  responded 
Perry,  half  turning  to  the  old  artist,  who  had 
overtaken  him  as  he  stood  gazing  at  his  first  sight 
of  the  Pyramid. 


136       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  H'm,"  said  his  new  friend,  looking  at  the 
boy.  "  That's  quite  an  intelligent  reply. " 

He  walked  on,  and  Perry,  struck  by  something 
very  likable  in  the  old  artist,  fell  into  step  be- 
side him.  For  at  least  ten  minutes  neither  spoke, 
and  then  the  artist  repeated, 

"  Euclid  turned  into  music!    H'm." 

He  turned  to  the  lad  suddenly. 

"  You  paint?  " 

"  Not  a  scrap,"  answered  the  boy,  "  I  can't 
draw  for  sour  apples." 

"  American!  "  ejaculated  the  artist,  noticing 
the  turn  of  the  expression.  "  H'm." 

A  trolley-car  whizzed  by. 

"  Why  aren't  you  on  that  rattle-bang  tram?  ' 
he  demanded. 

"  Didn't  like  the  idea,"  the  boy  replied  simply. 
"  Too  much  like  going  to  church  on  roller- 
skates." 

"  H'm,"  was  the  artist's  only  reply,  but  the 
boy  could  see  that  he  was  pleased. 

"  Are  you  disappointed?  "  was  the  artist's 
next  query. 

"  In  Egypt?  " 

"No.    laitl" 

He  pointed  to  the  pyramid  at  the  end  of  the 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     137 

road  before  them,  its  outlines  shining  clearer  as 
the  sun  sank,  lengthening  the  shadows  of  the  trees 
before  them. 

"  It  looks  smaller  than  I  expected,"  Perry  re- 
plied truthfully,  although  he  suspected  any  criti- 
cism would  hurt  the  artist's  feelings. 

"  That's  because  of  its  shape.  You'll  find  it 
seem  huge,  near  by." 

The  two  walked  on  together  in  silence. 

"  Are  you  going  to  do  a  picture  of  the  Pyra- 
mid! "  Perry  asked,  after  a  long  pause. 

"  Perhaps,"  the  other  answered.  "  I  am  wait- 
ing." 

He  did  not  seem  to  want  to  talk,  and,  as  they 
tramped  along  the  avenue  of  lebbek  trees,  Perry 
fell  silent  also.  His  companion  was  one  of  those 
men  whose  friendship  is  felt  as  much  in  silence 
as  in  speech,  and  the  two  went  forward  happily 
together. 

Half  a  mile  further  on,  an  Arab  stopped  the 
artist,  and  spoke  gravely  in  Arabic.  Hearing 
that  the  reply  was  also  in  Arabic,  Perry  strolled 
on  slowly.  The  artist  caught  up  to  him  again 
before  long. 

"  You  speak  Arabic?  "  queried  the  boy. 

"  H'm,  yes,"  the  other  answered.      "  I  have 


138       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

to  speak  it ;  none  of  them  speak  the  old  Egyptian 
here." 

"Do  you?" 

li  Yes.    H'm.    It  is  necessary.    I  am  waiting." 

Perry  wondered  what  it  could  be  for  which  the 
old  artist  was  waiting,  and  he  realized  that  his 
neighbor  was  eccentric,  if  not,  indeed,  a  little 
queer.  But  he  liked  him  tremendously,  just  the 
same. 

As  the  lebbek  trees  stopped,  the  road  swerved 
round  and  led  to  a  big  building  which  Perry  at 
once  recognized  to  be  the  hotel,  but  the  artist 
struck  off  by  a  path  to  the  side,  out  toward  a  clump 
of  date-palms.  There  he  stopped.  Before  them, 
now  sharply  outlined,  stood  the  three  great  and 
the  six  smaller  pyramids  of  Ghizeh,  and  silhouet- 
ted against  the  sky,  near  the  Second  or  Cephren 
pyramid,  was  the  bold  block  of  the  sphinx.  A 
feeling  stole  over  Perry  that  the  artist  was  pray- 
ing, and  he  wondered.  But  it  was  not  a  question 
that  could  be  asked. 

For  at  least  half  an  hour,  the  artist  stood  there, 
motionless.  Perry  fidgeted,  impatient  to  press  on, 
but  he  could  not  find  the  heart  to  leave  his  new- 
found friend.  At  last  the  artist  picked  up  the 
canvas  that  he  had  leant  against  one  of  the  palms, 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     139 

and  started  on.  Following  a  path  that  the  boy 
could  hardly  trace,  he  skirted  to  the  southward 
of  the  group  of  pyramids  and  halted  at  last,  be- 
side a  flat  boulder,  about  two  hundred  paces  from 
the  Sphinx.  Stooping,  he  drew  from  under  the 
boulder  a  tattered  blanket  which  he  laid  on  the 
stone,  set  up  his  easel,  a  little  to  his  left,  not  as 
though  he  were  going  to  work,  and  fell  into  a 
brown  study.  Twice  Perry  spoke  to  him,  but  re- 
ceived no  answer.  At  last,  deciding  that  his  pres- 
ence was  no  longer  welcome,  he  said: 

"  Good-bye,  and  thank  you." 

"  H'm,"  replied  the  artist,  breaking  the  long 
silence.  "  Euclid  turned  into  music.  H'm.  I 
shall  be  here  to-night/'  and  relapsed  into  con- 
templation. 

By  this  time  the  afternoon  was  drawing  on  and 
Perry  realized  that  if  he  wanted  to  see  anything 
of  the  Pyramids,  he  had  better  hurry.  As  soon 
as  he  came  near,  he  was  assailed  by  a  hideous  out- 
cry of  guides  and  donkey  boys,  clamoring  for  em- 
ployment and  for  baksheesh — in  other  words,  beg- 
ging— to  all  of  which  Perry  turned  a  deaf  ear 
until  an  athletic  young  Arab,  with  snapping  eyes, 
said  in  good  English, 

"  Want  to  go  to  top?  " 


140       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  You  bet,"  replied  the  lad,  then,  seeing  that 
this  was  not  understood,  continued,  "  Yes." 

"  Twenty  piastres,"  the  guide  demanded. 

As  Perry  had  learned  that  a  piastre  was  worth 
only  a  trifle  less  than  a  nickel,  he  did  not  deem  a 
dollar  too  much,  and  promptly  agreed.  Where- 
upon the  guide  called,  and  another  equally  ath- 
letic Arab  joined  them. 

"  Twenty  piastres,"  he  said  in  a  mournful 
voice. 

Perry  protested.  For  all  he  knew,  the  whole 
tribe  might  come  around  demanding  the  same 
twenty  piastres,  and  the  lad's  purse  was  slim. 
His  father  had  given  him  enough  spending  money, 
but  by  no  means  too  much. 

"  Twenty  piastres  to  this  one,"  he  said,  point- 
ing to  the  first  Arab  who  had  spoken  to  him. 

"  No  go  alone,"  was  the  reply.  "  Always 
two." 

Perry  hesitated.  After  all,  was  there  anything 
he  wanted  to  do  more  than  climb  that  Pyramid? 
He  decided  that  there  wasn't,  and  let  go  his  sec- 
ond dollar  with  a  good  grace. 

And  then  they  started. 

It  had  never  occurred  to  Perry  to  think  what 
climbing  a  pyramid  would  be  like.  In  the  dis- 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     141 

tance,  truly,  the  blocks  seemed  like  large  steps. 
But  no  sooner  was  the  lad  fairly  on  the  ledge 
from  which  the  pyramid  rises,  and  looked  up- 
ward, than  his  heart  gave  a  bound.  The  Pyra- 
mid seemed  miles  high!  He  turned  hesitatingly 
to  the  guide. 

"I've  got  to  be  back  by — "  he  began,  when 
each  of  the  Arabs  grasped  him  by  an  arm  and 
jumped  upwards. 

The  first  leap  was  nearly  five  feet  high! 

As  the  Arabs  dragged  him  up  the  face  of  the 
stone,  the  boy  felt  as  though  his  arms  would  come 
clear  out  of  their  sockets.  A  final  jerk  brought 
him  on  the  stone.  Again  a  swing  and  a  leap,  and 
he  found  himself  scrambling  up  another  block, 
again  almost  five  feet  high.  A  third  stretch, 
which  he  tried  to  open  his  legs  to  reach,  as  though 
he  were  a  pair  of  scissors,  felt  as  if  it  were  go- 
ing to  split  him  in  half,  and  he  found  himself  al- 
ready out  of  breath. 

"  Wow!  "  he  said,  feeling  that  he  would  give 
a  good  deal  to  have  a  hand  free  to  rub  himself. 

"  Eoie!  "  cried  the  Arabs  and  swung  him  up 
another  of  the  great  boulders. 

"  But  look  here — "  began  Perry,  seeking  to 
gain  a  moment's  breathing  space. 


142       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Easier  by-'n-by,"  answered  the  Arab  who  had 
first  spoken  to  him.  "  Eoie!  " 

And  up  he  went  again. 

Perry  remembered  that  he  had  read  how, 
throughout  all  the  ages,  people  had  wondered  in 
what  way  the  builders  of  four  thousand  years 
ago,  who  had  no  machinery,  had  managed  to  raise 
these  huge  stones,  for  the  lower  courses  were  four 
feet  ten  inches  high  and  sometimes  eight  feet  long. 
Even  the  upper  stones  were  little  less  than  three 
feet. 

"  Eoie!  "  cried  the  Arabs,  and  he  took  another 
flying  leap. 

11  That's  only  six  out  of  two  hundred  and 
three,"  said  Perry,  half  aloud,  and  he  wondered 
whether  he  would  get  to  the  top  as  a  complete 
boy  or  as  two  half  boys.  But,  after  another  dozen 
jerks,  which  made  Perry  feel  as  though  he  were 
a  cross  between  a  grasshopper  and  a  kangaroo, 
they  reached  the  part  of  the  pyramid  where  the 
steps  were  only  three  feet  high.  As  his  eye 
caught  sight  of  them,  the  boy  felt  easier  in  his 
mind.  Now  he  could  get  his  breath. 

Did  the  Arabs  spare  him  1    Not  a  bit. 

"  Eoie!  "  they  cried,  and  increased  their  speed 
amazingly. 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     143 

"  Fm — Fm    not    trying    for — any — record!  ' 
panted  the  lad. 

Much  the  Arabs  cared  what  he  said. 

"  Eoie !  "  they  cried,  and  their  lithe  brown  legs 
flashed  upwards. 

Perry  set  his  teeth  and  said  no  more  until  they 
reached  the  top. 

The  ascent  took  less  than  twenty  minutes  and 
when  at  last  the  Arabs  let  go  his  arms  and  the  boy 
had  a  chance  to  breathe,  he  felt  quite  satisfied  that 
his  guides  had  earned  every  cent  of  their  twenty 
piastres.  The  top  was  a  platform  about  thirty 
feet  square,  caused  by  the  loss  of  the  old  apex 
of  the  pyramid.  The  view  was  magnificent,  and 
Perry,  looking  down,  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
below  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  saw,  looking 
not  much  bigger  than  an  ant,  the  old  artist  in 
contemplation  before  the  Sphinx. 

The  descent  was  even  more  sensational.  Perry 
counted  himself  in  good  training  and  had  a  nervy 
head.  In  spite  of  that,  a  dozen  times  he  was  sure 
the  Arabs  would  lose  their  footing  and  roll  on 
down,  smashing  from  ledge  to  ledge.  Eealizing 
that  they  had  an  athletic  patron,  and  eager  to  get 
down  again  in  the  hope  of  finding  other  customers, 
the  Arabs  took  that  fearful  stairway  in  a  series 


i44       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

of  leaps  that  would  not  have  disgraced  a  delirious 
chamois,  but  they  delivered  Perry  safe  and  sound 
at  the  bottom,  out  of  breath,  wild  with  excitement, 
and  unfeignedly  glad  to  get  back  to  solid  earth 
once  more.  Yet,  as  he  turned  back  for  one  last 
look  at  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Cheops,  before  en- 
tering the  hotel,  Perry  knew  that  he  would  like 
to  climb  it  again  next  day. 

"  Uncle  George, "  said  the  lad  at  dinner,  after 
telling  of  his  pyramid  climb,  "  I  met  a  queer  old 
artist  to-day,  on  the  road.  I  liked  him  heaps," 
and  he  proceeded  to  tell  of  his  meeting  and  of 
the  way  in  which  the  artist  had  settled  down  to 
meditation  on  a  boulder  in  front  of  the  Great 
Sphinx. 

"  That  must  have  been  Quinward,  Mad  Quin- 
ward,  they  call  him  here,"  said  Wyr,  who  was  to 
accompany  the  expedition.  "  I'm  surprised  that 
you  liked  him.  He's  usually  jolly  wrathy  when 
people  disturb  him." 

"  He  was  as  nice  as  pie  to  me,"  said  Perry. 
"  Why  do  you  call  him  *  Mad  Quinward '  I  He 
didn't  seem  the  littlest  bit  mad  to  me.  I  did  think 
him  queer,  but  heaps  of  worth-while  folks  are 
that." 

"  But  he's  jolly  odd,  you  know,  Perry,"  said 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     145 

the  other.  "  He's  lived  in  Cairo  for  twenty  or 
thirty  years,  perhaps  more,  and  he's  always  go- 
ing to  paint  a  picture  of  the  Sphinx.  He  goes 
there,  every  day  all  these  twenty  years,  and  he's 
never  painted  a  line  yet." 

"  Perhaps  he  can't  paint,  Mr.  Wyr,"  suggested 
the  boy. 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  can.  He's  one  of  the  very  best 
we've  got.  Some  of  his  work  on  the  old  rock- 
mosques  can't  be  equalled  by  anybody.  But,  you 
know,  he  can't  be  bribed  into  doing  a  picture  of 
the  Sphinx  or  the  pyramids.  He's  been  offered 
some  jolly  big  sums,  quite  a  pot  of  money,  you 
know,  for  an  artist  chap.  But  he  always  makes 
the  same  reply — " 

"  '  I  am  waiting,'  "  queried  the  boy,  "  is  that 
it?" 

"  That's  it.  But  what  it  is  that  he  is  waiting 
for,  no  one  knows,  unless  it's  inspiration.  And 
I  should  jolly  well  think  he  ought  to  know,  after 
twenty  or  thirty  years,  whether  he  can  get  an  in- 
spiration or  not." 

"  He  seemed  mighty  interesting,"  rejoined 
Perry.  "  He  told  me  he  knew  Ancient  Egyp- 
tian." 

"  He  does,"  Wyr  responded.     "  Oh,  yes,  there 


146       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

aren't  many  people  around  Cairo  who  know  more 
about  Egypt  than  Quinward.  But  you  must  have 
touched  him  in  a  tender  spot,  Perry,  for  generally, 
he's  awfully  like  a  bear." 

"  P'raps  it  was  because  I  didn't  bother  him 
an  awful  lot,"  said  Perry.  "Anyhow,  he  half 
suggested  that  I  should  go  to  see  him  this 
evening. ' ' 

"Well,  why  not?"  said  the  professor.  "If 
this  artist  friend  of  yours  is  as  well-informed  as 
Mr.  Wyr  seems  to  think,  get  him  talking  about 
Egypt  and  then  you  can  tell  us  all  about  it. ' ' 

"  Won't  you  come  along,  Uncle  George?  "  sug- 
gested Perry. 

"  No,  lad,"  the  professor  replied.  "I'm  sorry 
to  say  that  I've  got  to  get  back  to  Cairo  to-night. 
Two  or  three  things  have  come  up  that  I  want  to 
look  after,  in  order  to  have  everything  clear  be- 
fore starting  off  in  the  morning.  I've  been  over 
the  Pyramids  before,  Perry,  you  know,  and  it's 
an  old  story.  What  I  want  to  see  is  fossil  ele- 
phants !  Compared  with  those,  my  boy,  the  Pyra- 
mids are  very  young." 

"  Oh,  we're  going  to  find  heaps  of  fossils  that 
no  one  ever  saw  before,"  asserted  Perry,  with  a 
buoyancy  so  infectious  that  the  two  men  laughed. 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     147 

"  But  just  now,  I'm  after  Pyramids.  Fossil  ele- 
phants, later." 

"  Put  your  heavy  coat  on,  then,  Perry, "  the 
Survey  expert  advised  him,  as  they  rose  from  the 
table.  "  If  you're  going  to  sit  on  the  sand  with 
Mad  Quinward,  you'll  find  that  it  gets  jolly  cold 
here  at  night." 

A  lurid  glow  as  of  a  volcano 's  reflection  was  all 
that  the  sky  still  held  of  the  sunset  when  Perry 
reached  the  boulder  where  he  had  left  the  artist. 
Mad  Quinward,  as  the  boy  had  come  to  know  him, 
was  still  sitting  on  the  rock,  but  he,  also,  had 
been  having  dinner,  for  he  was  putting  into  one 
of  his  capacious  pockets  a  flat  tin  food-box,  and 
into  another  a  flask.  Seeing  the  boy,  however,  he 
unhooked  the  lid  of  the  box,  sprinkled  some  salt 
over  a  crust  that  remained,  and  gravely  handed 
it  to  Perry. 

"  Bread  and  salt,"  he  said. 

The  boy  took  it  gravely,  remembering  the  old 
custom  that  whosoever  has  accepted  bread  and 
salt  at  your  hands  has  thereby  cemented  friend- 
ship, and  munched  the  crust  in  silence,  feeling 
something  very  fitting  in  this  ancient  oriental  rite 
in  the  presence  of  the  Sphinx  as  the  day  died 
down. 


148       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  crimson  faded  out  of  the  sky  with  the  last 
crumb  of  the  little  ritual  meal,  and  then  Perry 
saw,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  the  up-coming  of 
a  night  in  Egypt.  The  darkness  hurled  itself 
after  the  sunset  like  a  battle-charge,  and  within  a 
few  seconds,  the  palm-trees  that  had  been  dark 
green  in  the  glowing  sunset,  loomed  like  black  sen- 
tinels against  the  sky.  The  stars,  as  though  in 
panic  at  the  darkness,  leaped  into  full  brilliancy, 
and  a  bright  star-shine  gleamed  where  the  sunset 
had  been  but  a  moment  before.  The  transforma- 
tion was  so  sudden  as  to  seem  almost  theatrical. 

The  artist  unfolded  the  tattered  blanket  on 
which  he  had  been  seated  and  threw  one-half  of 
its  length  upon  the  sand,  motioning  to  Perry  to 
sit  down.  The  boy  did  so,  feeling  the  heat  of  the 
sun-warmed  sand  beneath  him  and,  taking  his  cue 
from  the  artist,  lapsed  into  silence.  It  was  some 
time  before  Mad  Quinward  spoke. 

"  Nearly  five  thousand  years  ago,"  he  said,  in 
a  low,  thoughtful  voice,  "  there  came  a  wise  man 
to  the  old  city  beside  the  Nile." 

He  stopped,  and  in  the  pause  Perry  felt  him- 
self slide  into  a  reverie  of  life  as  it  was  in  the  days 
of  the  Pyramid-builders. 

"  A  Chaldaean  mage  he  was,  of  the  land  where 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     149 

the  seven-storied  towers  stood  wherefrom  men 
watched  the  stars." 

And  Perry,  answering  nothing,  looked  at  the 
constellations.  From  where  he  lay,  the  studded 
belt  of  Orion  gleamed  directly  over  the  Sphinx, 
and,  as  he  watched  the  slow  circling  of  the  stars, 
he  thought  how  they  circled  in  the  same  path  thou- 
sands of  years  ago. 

And  so,  through  the  evening,  and  into  the  night, 
artist  and  boy  sat  there,  sat  there  till  the  sounds 
from  the  hotel  died  down;  sat  there  till  even  the 
barking  of  the  Egyptian  dogs  was  stilled ;  sat  there 
silently,  save  for  a  sentence  now  and  then  from 
the  slowly-moving  lips  of  the  old  artist.  And 
gradually,  by  word  and  influence,  Perry  slipped 
his  own  aggressive  personality  and  became  at  one 
with  Egypt  and  the  night.  Little  by  little,  the 
story  wove  itself  into  his  brain,  while  the  Sphinx 
and  the  Pyramids  stayed  moveless  and  the  rest- 
less stars  swung  on. 

'  '  He  saw  the  follies  of  the  temples  and  prophe- 
sied their  fall — he  stayed  the  Pharaoh  in  his 
chariot  and  mocked  his  power — he  laughed  to 
scorn  the  colossi  of  the  gods — he  flung  in  every 
face  the  eternal  question :  '  What  is  Man  sent  on 
earth  to  do?  '  " 


150       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Again  came  silence. 

' '  And  Pharaoh  led  him  to  a  mass  of  rock  upon 
the  desert — '  Carve  there  a  Sphinx!  '  he  said, 
'  with  face  like  to  mine  own.  Thou  wert  sent  here 
to  huild  my  greatness,  in  spite  of  all  thy  wis- 
dom.' " 

The  stars  swung  slowly  on. 

"  For  years  he  toiled —  A  thousand  workmen 
quarried  and  labored  at  the  body — the  face  was  his 
alone —  Always  it  was  covered  with  a  veil — 
Behind  that  veil  he  worked — within  that  veil  he 
slept — and  no  man  saw  the  graven  face  behind  the 
veil.11 

Midnight  had  long  gone  by  and  the  chill  of  a 
night  half  turned  to  morning  numbed  Perry  to  his 
bones,  but  he  hardly  dared  to  move,  lest  he  should 
break  the  spirit  that  had  gripped  the  watcher — 
the  watcher  who  for  twenty  years  and  more  had 
never  failed  to  see  the  stars  circle  above  the 
Sphinx.  Almost  an  hour  passed  before  the  artist 
spoke  again. 

"  There  came  a  day  that  all  was  finished —  A 
runner  went  to  Pharaoh,  and  the  Pharaoh  came — 
Over  the  figure's  face  was  still  the  veil —  The 
sun  shone  pitilessly  and  the  desert  shimmered  with 
the  heat. 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     151 

"  They  tore  away  the  veil — " 

Upon  the  dark  desert  settled  an  expectant 
hush. 

"  Over  Great  Pharaoh,  the  Greater  Sphinx 
smiled  in  a  splendid  mockery. 

"  '  Great  Pharaoh,'  cried  the  sculptor,  '  I  was 
sent  here  to  mock  thy  little  greatness,  not  to 
build  it.' 

t  *  The  Pharaoh  raised  his  finger —  The  spears 
struck  home —  And  over  the  dying  sculptor,  the 
mocking  Sphinx  smiled  still." 

The  glint  as  of  a  black  pearl  over  the  East  told 
of  the  approach  of  day. 

The  artist  clutched  the  boy's  arm. 

"  It  speaks,"  he  said,  in  an  awed  whisper,  "  at 
last  it  speaks!  " 

The  dawn  trembled  closer,  and,  in  the  utter  dis- 
tance, a  bird's  faint  notes  were  heard. 

"  You  hear—" 

Not  for  the  world  would  the  boy  have  said  that 
the  sound  the  artist  heard  was  but  a  bird  singing 
to  the  morning. 

"  I  hear,"  he  answered. 

The  sun  thrust  up  a  beam  of  welcome,  and  with 
the  first  long,  level  ray,  the  artist  sprang  to  his 
feet.  He  snatched  the  canvas  that  for  twenty 


152       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

years  had  never  known  a  brush  and  feverishly, 
madly,  began  to  paint. 

Color  and  line  grew  like  a  swifter  life  upon  the 
canvas,  strokes  so  rapid  and  so  sure  that  the  eye 
could  scarcely  follow  them  as  they  gave  birth  to 
form.  The  day  was  not  yet  an  hour  old  when  the 
artist  laid  down  his  palette. 

4 *  It  is  done!  "  he  said.  "  It  was  well  to  wait. 
There  is  the  message  of  the  Sphinx!  " 

And,  dropping  his  brushes  on  the  boulder,  the 
artist  threw  himself  upon  the  ground,  and,  in  a 
moment,  was  asleep. 

Cramped  and  stiff,  Perry  rose  and  stretched 
himself.  The  sun  rose  over  the  lebbek-trees,  warm 
and  comforting. 

Two  tourists,  early  risers,  coming  from  the 
hotel,  strolled  over  to  where  the  boy  was  standing. 
Seeing  that  they  were  about  to  speak,  Perry  held 
up  his  hand. 

"  Please!  "  he  said  softly;  "  he's  asleep." 

The  first  looked  at  the  artist,  recumbent  on  the 
sand. 

"  Why,  it's  Mad  Quinward!  "  he  exclaimed. 

The  second  looked  at  the  picture.  He  removed 
his  helmet,  as  though  entering  a  shrine. 

"  That  will  be  deemed  one  of  the  world's  great 


THE  ARTIST  AT  THE  SPHINX     153 

masterpieces,"  he   said  reverently.    "  You  saw 
him  paint  it  ?  ' ' 

Simply,  the  lad  replied : 

"  I  have  been  here  all  night" 


CHAPTEE  VI 

ACROSS   THE   DESERT   ON    CAMEL-BACK 

THE  sun  was  high  before  Mad  Quinward  awoke, 
Perry  staying  beside  him  faithfully.  The  news  of 
the  great  picture  had  spread,  and  when  the  artist 
roused  himself,  he  found  himself  the  center  of  a 
crowd.  Many  people  pressed  forward  with  con- 
gratulations, but  the  painter  seemed  dazed  and 
silent.  The  boy  urged  him  to  come  to  the  hotel 
for  breakfast,  an  invitation  warmly  seconded  by 
Dr.  Hunt,  for  the  professor,  as  fully  as  any  one, 
had  realized  the  wonder  of  that  canvas,  painted 
in  an  ecstasy  during  the  first  flush  of  an  Egyptian 
sunrise. 

But  Quinward,  never  again  to  be  called  "  Mad  " 
Quinward,  strapped  up  his  little  easel,  took  the 
canvas — which  had  been  blank  for  twenty  years, 
and  now  had  blossomed  into  so  marvelous  a  work, 
and  with  a  word  here  and  there,  turned  to  the 
lebbek-bordered  road  and  trudged  back  to  Cairo. 
Though  less  than  a  day  had  elapsed  since  Perry 

154 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  155 

first  met  him,  the  boy  had  a  pang  of  loneliness 
when  he  saw  the  artist  go. 

" You'd  better  get  a  nap,"  said  the  professor 
to  Perry,  when  Quinward's  figure  had  disappeared 
along  the  sun-lit  road.  "  We'll  be  going  soon." 

The  boy  shook  himself  into  reality. 

"  What  time  do  we  start?  "  he  asked. 

"  At  ten- thirty,"  was  the  reply,  "  so  that  you 
can  get  a  bite  of  breakfast  and  forty  winks,  at 
least." 

The  scientist  had  little  sympathy  with  what  he 
considered  the  lad's  foolishness  in  staying  up  all 
night  with  Quinward,  but  he  knew  that  nothing 
would  be  gained  by  saying  so,  and,  besides,  he 
realized  that  this  persistence  on  the  lad's  part  was 
a  sign  of  character.  To  Perry,  the  whole  night 
had  been  too  wonderful  even  to  talk  about,  and  he 
tumbled  into  a  sleep  so  profound  that  when  his 
uncle  wakened  him,  an  hour  and  a  half  later,  it 
took  the  lad  a  minute  or  two  to  decide  whether  he 
was  in  old  Egypt  or  in  the  new. 

Eubbing  his  eyes,  and  yawning,  for  he  was  still 
fearfully  tired,  as  much  from  the  reaction  as  the 
fatigue,  he  walked  over  to  the  window,  to  look  out 
over  the  Pyramids.  There,  immediately  in  front 
of  the  hotel,  was  a  caravan  of  fourteen  camels, 


156       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

and  among  the  drivers,  directing  operations,  was 
Arnold  Wyr. 

"  Oh!  "  cried  Perry,  "  is  that  our  caravan?  " 

His  uncle  nodded. 

"  Say!  "  ejaculated  Perry,  and  splashed  cold 
water  on  his  face,  "  we're  really  off!  " 

"  Just  waiting  for  you,"  the  leader  of  the  ex- 
pedition responded.  "  I  gave  you  the  chance  to 
sleep  right  to  the  very  last  minute." 

The  rest  of  Perry's  dressing  operations  resem- 
bled a  motion  picture  film  run  at  full  speed,  and  in 
little  more  than  a  minute  he  was  in  full  kit  and 
a-tiptoe  with  eagerness  to  be  away.  He  took  the 
stairs  two  at  a  stride,  far  too  excited  to  wait 
for  the  elevator,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the 
residents  of  the  hotel,  enervated  by  the  Egyptian 
climate. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Wyr,"  he  cried,  as  he  dashed  out, 
"  which  is  my  camel?  " 

The  Englishman  turned  to  the  head  camel 
driver. 

"  Which  is  the  wickedest,  Michawi?  "  he  said  in 
English,  for  the  boy's  benefit,  and  then  translated 
into  Arabic. 

Michawi  smiled,  showing  his  strong  white  teeth, 
and  said,  in  his  broken  English : 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  157 

"  The  camel  with  a  hurt  on  his  neck,  he  is  a 
bad  one.  He  fights." 

He  pointed  to  one  of  the  camels  which  had  a 
small  wound  on  the  side  of  his  neck. 

Perry  would  not  have  backed  down  for  the 
world,  but  he  had  not  bargained  for  this. 

"  All  right,  I'm  game,"  he  answered. 

His  uncle  laughed. 

"  Never  mind,  Perry,"  he  said,  "  that  happens 
to  be  Mr.  Wyr's  own  beast.  Well  give  you  some- 
thing easier  for  a  beginning.  This  is  yours  here. ' ' 

"  Do  I  get  on  him  now?  " 

"  I  only  hope  you  won't  be  more  anxious  to 
get  off  than  you  are  to  get  on,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Yes,  you  can  mount  now,  if  you're  ready." 

"  I'm  ready,"  the  boy  responded,  and,  as  di- 
rected, clambered  into  the  saddle,  putting  his  feet 
on  the  cross-bar,  and  awaited  the  word  to  proceed. 
Michawi  gave  a  shout,  and  the  boy  felt  the  great 
hump  sway  beneath  him,  giving  him  a  queer  feel- 
ing of  insecurity. 

"  Look  out  as  he  gets  up !  "  warned  his  uncle. 

Not  knowing  what  to  expect,  Perry  curled  his 
toes  under  the  cross-bar,  getting  a  grip  as  though 
a  camel  were  a  bucking  horse.  This  was  nearly 
his  downfall,  for  Perry  did  not  know  that  a  camel 


158       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

rises  on  his  hind-legs  first.  As  the  beast  rose,  it 
pitched  the  saddle  at  such  an  angle  that  the  lad 
felt  sure  he  was  about  to  be  thrown  over  the 
animal's  back.  He  had  just  time  to  uncurl  his 
legs  and  put  a  foot  on  the  cross-step  to  brace  him- 
self, when,  after  a  distinct  pause,  the  camel  gave 
a  muscular  jerk  and  came  up  on  its  fore-legs  also, 
and  the  boy  settled  back  into  his  seat.  The  beast 
stood  still  for  a  moment,  and  then  began  to  move. 

"  Is — is  this  camel  double- jointed,  Uncle 
George?  "  asked  Perry,  the  words  being  jolted 
out  of  his  mouth,  as  he  ranged  up  beside  the  pro- 
fessor, who  meanwhile  had  mounted  his  animal 
nonchalantly 

"I  don't  suppose  so,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Why?  " 

"  The  way  he  walks,"  replied  the  boy.  "  It 
feels  as  though  his  nigh  and  his  off  sides  had  be- 
come unhitched,  somehow." 

The  leader  of  the  expedition  laughed  at  the  de- 
scription, although  realizing  that  it  did  give  an 
idea  of  the  loose,  racking  gait  of  the  camel. 

"  They  all  walk  like  that,"  he  said.  "  You  get 
used  to  it,  after  a  time." 

"  It's  sure  queer,"  said  Perry,  "  but  it's  rather 
fun." 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  159 

"  Tell  me,  after  the  halt,  if  you  think  it's  as 
much  fun, ' '  the  scientist  warned  him. 

For  the  next  half -hour  the  lad  was  silent,  watch- 
ing the  caravan  tune  up  to  start.  At  last  the  long 
line  was  ready,  Michawi  took  the  lead,  the  soft- 
padded  feet  of  the  camel  shuffled  on  the  beaten 
road  to  the  south,  along  the  western  bank  of  the 
Nile,  and  the  trip  toward  the  desert  was  begun. 

In  single  file,  there  was  little  chance  for  speech, 
and  Perry's  desire  for  questioning  grew  grad- 
ually less  as  the  camel  swung  into  that  long,  slouch- 
ing walk,  which  at  the  never-changing  pace  of  two 
and  a  half  miles  an  hour,  eats  up  the  desert  miles. 
So  absolutely  regular  is  this  pace  that  distances 
on  the  desert  are  measured  by  caravan  hours,  and 
the  average  day's  journey  is  six  caravan  hours  or 
fifteen  miles.  Eacing  camels,  however,  which  are 
an  Arabian  breed,  specially  bred  for  speed,  have 
been  known  to  carry  a  traveler  as  much  as  a  hun- 
dred miles  a  day,  but  these  are  seldom  used  in 
caravans. 

Perry  had  not  been  in  the  camel-saddle  more 
than  about  half-an-hour  before  he  began  to  feel  as 
though  he  were  sea-sick.  He  choked  down  the 
feeling,  but  it  made  him  miserable  and  unhappy. 
His  back,  too,  was  beginning  to  hurt  from  the  mo- 


160       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

tion,  and  when,  after  what  seemed  an  age,  the  cara- 
van halted  for  lunch,  it  was  a  stiff  and  weary  lad 
who  stepped  off  gladly  from  his  camel  when  the 
beast  knelt  down. 

"  How  are  you  feeling?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"  I'm  stiff,"  confessed  the  boy;  "  that  sideways 
wiggle  seems  to  catch  me  in  the  small  of  the  back. ' ' 

"  It  catches  me,  too,"  the  professor  said,  com- 
fortingly, "  and  almost  every  one  else  in  just  the 
same  way." 

"  Doesn't  one  ever  get  used  to  it?  " 

"  The  Arabs  do,  and  people  who  travel  in  a 
camel-saddle  a  great  deal.  But  one  caravan  trip 
won't  toughen  you,  my  boy,  and  you  needn't  ex- 
pect it.  Camels  are  not  ideal  beasts  for  riding, 
but  they  are  so  highly  specialized  for  desert  work 
that  nothing  can  take  their  place. ' ' 

"  I  should  think,"  said  Perry  thoughtfully, 
"  they  could  be  useful  on  the  alkali  plains  of  our 
Southwest." 

"  Especially  since  camels  originated  there," 
said  the  professor. 

"  Camels  did?  In  America?  You're  joking, 
Uncle  George!  " 

"  Certainly  they  did.  The  camel  is  an  Amer- 
ican citizen."  The  scientist  smiled.  "  If  coming 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  161 

over  in  the  Mayflower  gives  the  right  to  be  con- 
sidered one  of  the  old  American  families,  how 
about  the  camel?  We've  found  his  ancestors  in 
the  Uinta  formation  in  Utah.  What  period  is  the 
Uinta,  Perry?  " 

"  Upper  Eocene, "  the  boy  answered  promptly. 

* '  Eight, "  the  professor  answered.  "And 
about  how  long  ago?  " 

"  Two  million  years,  according  to  that  scale  you 
gave  me  on  shipboard. ' ' 

"  Well,  about  two  million  years  ago,  there  were 
four  different  families  of  camelids  in  America 
which  were  destined  to  develop.  The  earliest  of 
them  seems  to  have  been  a  small  creature  called 
Protylopus,  about  a  foot  high." 

"  Weren't  there  any  of  them  in  Africa  or 
Asia?  " 

"  None  have  been  found.  No,  so  far  as  we 
know,  the  camel  family  is  pure  American.  All 
through  the  Eocene  they  remained  quite  tiny  crea- 
tures, no  bigger  than  a  cat.  They  grew  a  little 
larger  during  the  next  period,  the  Oligocene,  be- 
coming about  the  size  of  a  sheep-dog,  but  of  course 
they  were  much  more  slenderly  built.  It  was  in 
the  age  after  that,  however,  Perry,  that  the  ances- 
tors of  the  camels  spread  all  over  America.  Dur- 


1 62      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

ing  the  first  part  of  the  Miocene,  vast  herds  of 
long-necked  camels,  known  as  Alticamelus,  or  the 
giiuffe-camel,  roamed  over  the  western  plains,  and 
their  bones  are  found  by  thousands  in  the  Miocene 
deposits  of  Colorado. ' ' 

"  Why  giraffe-camels,  Uncle  George?  "  asked 
Perry.  "  A  camel  hasn't  anything  to  do  with  a 
giraffe,  has  it?  " 

"  Not  a  thing,"  was  the  reply,  "  although  the 
giraffe 's  scientific  name,  Camelopardalis,  seems  to 
give  color  to  the  idea.  No,  Perry,  in  certain  ways 
a  giraffe  is  an  intermediate  between  a  deer  and  an 
antelope.  Don't  forget  that  a  giraffe  always  has 
horns,  although  they  are  only  small  bony  growths 
which  correspond  to  the  bony  core  of  a  deer's 
horns,  and  the  giraffe's  male  ancestors  had  long 
horns,  as  in  deer.  But  the  giraffe-camel  of  the 
American  Miocene  was  just  plain  camel,  or  rather, 
he  was  on  the  road  to  cameldom.  He  was  called 
a  giraffe-camel  because  he  had  a  long  thin  neck 
like  a  giraffe.  He  carried  it  straight,  too,  so  far 
as  we  can  determine,  not  in  that  bended  loop  effect 
of  the  modern  camel." 

"  What  happened  to  them?  " 

"  One  branch  turned  into  the  llamas,  which  are 
now  the  beasts  of  burden  in  the  Andes,  and  which 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  163 

were  used  by  the  Incas  of  Peru  for  the  same  pur- 
poses that  we  use  horses.  The  llamas  used  to  be 
in  Colorado,  too,  and  we  have  found  their  bones, 
fossilized.  The  other  branch  of  the  camelids 
crossed  by  the  Behring  Sea  bridge,  and  developed 
into  the  modern  camel  in  Asia,  naturally  reaching 
Africa  in  the  latter  part  of  that  period  before  the 
coming  of  the  European  Ice  Age." 

"  But  what  happened  to  our  American  giraffe- 
camels?  " 

"  They  died  out.  In  the  late  Pliocene  Period 
they  were  all  gone  from  the  East  and  only  browsed 
on  the  vegetation  of  California  and  the  plateaus  of 
the  Southwest.  Then  the  cold  of  the  Ice  Age 
struck  North  America  and  the  North  Pole  ice  cov- 
ered half  the  United  States.  The  giraffe-camels 
were  not  rugged  enough  for  this,  and  as  but  one 
baby  camel  was  born  a  year,  they  could  not  live. 

"  The  llamas  had  found  their  way  to  South 
America,  over  which  the  ice-sheet  did  not  creep; 
the  true  camels  had  found  their  way  to  tropical 
Asia  and  Africa.  These  species  survived  those 
thousands  of  years  of  terrible  cold  by  hugging 
the  equator  and  so  passed  on  into  modern  life, 
hardy  and  secure,  while  their  North  American 
ancestors,  the  giraffe-camels,  failed  in  the  Battle 


164       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

of  Life.  So,  you  see,  Perry,  although  we  always 
think  of  the  camel  as  a  foreign  animal,  he  really  is 
an  emigrant  from  our  own  United  States. " 

"  We  ought  to  get  him  back,  then,"  said  Perry. 
"Why  couldn't  we?  " 

"  It  was  tried,"  replied  the  professor,  "  during 
the  California  gold-rush  of  '49.  Some  camels 
were  imported  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  sup- 
plies to  the  army  posts  in  the  arid  regions,  but  for 
some  reason  or  other,  they  never  flourished.  I 
suppose  the  herd  was  not  large  enough  to  keep 
the  animals  from  inbreeding.  So  the  camels  were 
turned  loose." 

"  Are  there  any  still  left?  " 

"  I  doubt  if  there  are  any,  now.  Once  in  a  long 
while,  there  is  a  report  of  a  camel  having  been 
seen  in  Arizona.  But  the  Indians  killed  most  of 
them  during  the  first  twenty  years  after  they  were 
set  free,  and  mountain  lions  disposed  of  the  re- 
mainder. After  all,  Perry,  a  camel  is  an  inoffen- 
sive ruminant,  depending  only  on  his  speed  for 
escape  from  any  powerful  carnivore.  He  is  pro- 
tected in  the  desert,  for  no  heavy  creature,  such 
as  tigers,  live  there,  and  hyenas  and  jackals  eat 
dead  flesh.  But  a  mountain  lion  would  easily  kill 
him  in  a  fight,  and  a  camel  would  have  to  come 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  165 

to  the  wooded  country  for  food  and  water.  I 
don't  think  camels  will  ever  be  plentiful  in  Amer- 
ica again.  The  broncho  and  burro  need  fear  no 
rival." 

"  So  far  as  that  goes,"  rejoined  Perry,  wincing 
as  he  rose  up  at  the  signal  that  the  caravan  was 
about  to  move  on  again,  "I'd  sooner  try  to  sit 
the  worst  bucking  horse  that  ever  was  foaled  than 
have  my  back  twisted  like  a  double-back-action 
corkscrew  by  this  queer-jointed  beast." 

Past  thirteen  pyramids  the  caravan  trod,  fol- 
lowing the  ancient  road  beside  the  Nile,  sometimes 
on  the  summit,  looking  over  the  broad  cultivated 
region  where  the  Nile  had  overflowed  and  left  its 
deposit  of  fertilizing  mud ;  at  other  times  over  the 
edges  of  the  cotton  fields  themselves,  always  at 
that  one  unswerving  rate  of  two  and  a  half  miles 
an  hour. 

Perry  sat  frontwards,  then  sideways,  then  put 
his  whole  weight  on  the  cross-piece,  then  wriggled 
around  to  some  other  pose.  But  it  made  very  lit- 
tle difference.  No  matter  what  position  he  as- 
sumed, that  corkscrew-like  racking  walk  from  side 
to  side  nipped  the  base  of  his  spine.  Toward  the 
end  of  the  day,  he  got  off  and  walked.  His  uncle 
did  the  same,  but  the  Englishman,  who  had  spent 


166      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

months  at  a  time  in  a  camel-saddle,  seemed  quite 
content.  The  road  was  firm  at  this  place,  lying  in 
the  valley  of  the  Nile  at  the  base  of  the  sandstone 
terraces,  peppered  with  graves,  where  for  six  thou- 
sand years  Egypt  has  buried  her  dead,  high  above 
possible  flooding  from  the  waters  of  the  Nile.  The 
sandstone  was  laid  down  when  the  southern  part 
of  Africa  was  an  island  and  all  the  Sahara  desert 
was  the  bed  of  a  great  sea. 

After  five  caravan  hours  of  travel,  the  long  line 
of  camels  halted  near  Sakkara,  not  far  from  the 
ancient  step-pyramid.  Though  the  day  was  still 
young,  Perry  was  stiff  and  sore  from  riding,  and 
tired  from  missing  his  sleep  the  night  before. 
None  the  less,  under  Antoine's  suggestion,  he 
walked  two  miles  to  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city 
of  Memphis,  the  capital  of  Egypt  in  the  dawn  of 
history.  Wonderful  and  impressive  as  were  the 
old  temple  of  Ptah  and  the  colossi,  it  was  with 
readiness  that  Perry  turned  his  steps  homewards 
to  the  caravan,  and  when  he  reached  his  tent  he 
fell  asleep  without  even  realizing  the  fact  that 
this  was  his  first  night  on  a  caravan  halt. 

It  was  almost  a  different  lad,  however,  who 
jumped  up  briskly  when  the  call  to  wake  the  camp 
was  made  at  sunrise.  He  was  out  and  busy  with 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  167 

his  camera  half  an  hour  before  breakfast  was 
ready,  and  when  he  sat  down,  his  appetite  whetted 
by  the  open  air,  he  tucked  away  a  meal  that  made 
a  serious  inroad  on  the  provisions. 

"  You'll  have  to  go  easier  on  the  grub  than 
that  when  we  get  out  on  the  desert, "  his  uncle 
warned  him  jokingly,  "  or  we'll  have  to  build  a 
railroad  as  we  go  to  keep  you  in  supplies.'' 

Perry  grinned  appreciatively. 

"  I  wish  I  could  eat  enough  at  one  sitting  to 
make  me  so  fat  that  I  wouldn't  feel  the  camel," 
he  said,  "  but  as  I  can't,  I  suppose  I'd  better  quit 
now."  He  winced  as  he  got  up  from  his  cross- 
legged  position  on  the  floor.  "  I  just  feel  like 
one  big  bruise." 

"  Cheer  up,"  said  Antoine,  "  you'll  feel  worse 
to-night." 

The  caravan  started  past  Sakkara,  following 
the  same  general  character  of  road  as  the  day 
before.  To  the  left,  lay  the  Nile,  flowing  between 
the  cultivated  fields,  and  beyond,  the  high,  bare, 
rocky  escarpment  of  the  eastern  plain;  to  the 
right,  frowned  the  sandstone  bluffs,  from  the  top 
of  which  to  the  westward  stretched  the  interm- 
inable leagues  of  desert. 

"  That's  really  the  plan  of  all  Egypt,  isn't 


1 68       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

it,  Antoine?  "  asked  Perry,  at  the  evening  halt, 
pointing  across  the  cultivated  stretch.  "  Desert 
on  either  side,  and  that  two-mile  strip  between.  I 
hadn't  ever  thought  of  Egypt  merely  as  a  single 
narrow  strip  of  land,  at  least,  not  as  narrow  as 
that/' 

"  That  is  just  what  it  is,"  Antoine  replied. 
' i  Except  for  the  delta  and  Lower  Egypt,  for  the 
Fayum,  where  we  are  going,  and  for  the  oases  in 
the  desert,  that  narrow  valley  is  all.  Yet  Egypt 
has  played  a  great  part  in  the  world." 

"  I  don't  see  that  it  does  now,"  declared  Perry, 
with  American  opportunism.  il  It's  all  tombs. 
We've  seen  the  tombs  of  Ptah-hotep,  Ti,  Mera, 
and  a  whole  lot  of  others  to-day  and  yesterday. 
Those  chaps  seem  to  have  done  big  things.  They 
sent  out  armies  all  over  the  map.  They  built  huge 
temples  and  pyramids.  I  don't  see  that  modern 
Egypt  is  doing  anything  at  all.  What's  the  mat- 
ter? " 

16  Nations  die  out,  like  people,"  said  Antoine. 
"  There  is  no  longer  any  Egypt.  It  is  England, 
and  England  only,  that  lives  in  the  present,  here. 
Yet,  Perry,  you  must  not  forget  that  the  great  dam 
at  Assouan,  which  was  built  less  than  ten  years 
ago,  is  a  much  bigger  work  than  the  Pyramids  and 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  169 

a  million  times  more  useful.  Egypt  now  grows 
two  crops  instead  of  one,  doubling  the  wealth  of 
the  entire  country. " 

"Good,"  said  Perry  emphatically;  "  that's 
worth  while.  But,  Antoine,  why  don't  the  Eng- 
lish modernize  the  entire  business?  Look  at  that 
chap  over  there,  raising  water  with  a  shadouf. 
Instead  of  swinging  that  pole  and  that  weight,  just 
to  bring  up  a  small  bucket  full  of  water,  he  could 
put  in  a  force-pump  and  get  as  much  water  in  ten 
minutes  as  he  can  get  now  in  half  a  day." 

"  Perhaps,"  said  his  friend.  "  But  what  would 
he  do  the  rest  of  the  day!  Sleep  in  the  shade? 
To  save  his  time  would  only  increase  his  idleness." 

"  I  don't  wonder  that  he  sleeps,"  said  Perry, 
.stretching  himself.  "  I  notice  I  want  to  sleep  just 
as  soon  as  the  caravan  stops." 

"  That's  the  strong  sunlight  on  your  eyes,"  de- 
clared Antoine.  "  You'd  better  turn  in  now." 

"  I  guess  I  will,"  the  boy  replied,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  he  had  curled  up  on  the  rugs  within  his 
tent,  looked  up  sleepily  at  the  Arabic  quotations 
from  the  Koran  sewn  in  colored  strips  to  the  in- 
side of  the  canvas  walls,  and,  rightly  judging  these 
to  be  piously  designed  to  bless  his  slumbers,  he 
blinked  twice  and  fell  asleep. 


i7o       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  next  day  was  very  similar  to  the  two  that 
had  preceded  it.  Another  short  day  of  five  cara- 
van hours  brought  them  past  the  pyramids  of 
Dashur  to  the  excavations  at  Lisht  where  there 
was  a  large  party  at  work  securing  old  vases  and 
objects  of  art  for  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
New  York. 

There,  next  morning,  with  the  old  crumbling 
pyramid  of  Usertesen  I  in  the  distance,  a  half  an 
hour  was  spent  in  securing  a  series  of  photographs 
of  the  entire  caravan  and  then  the  party  turned 
its  face  to  the  west  and  struck  out  across  the 
desert.  Loaded  with  heavy  fantasses  or  steel 
tanks  of  water,  the  baggage  camels  brought  up  the 
rear,  the  line,  strung  out  in  the  customary  single 
file,  reaching  an  eighth  of  a  mile  in  length. 

Now,  Perry  thought,  for  the  great  sand  waste 
of  the  Sahara.  He  had  expected  billowing  sands, 
like  huge  waves,  vast  hillocks  and  dunes.  Yet  he 
saw  nothing  of  the  sort.  The  ground  over  which 
they  were  traveling  was  not  sand-color  at  all,  but 
like  a  mosaic  of  brown  and  black,  level  and  hard. 
The  whole  surface  of  this  part  of  the  desert  was 
paved  with  small  pebbles,  quartzites,  the  boy  after- 
wards found  them  to  be,  weather-worn  and  abso- 
lutely sunburnt  by  the  terrific  and  pitiless  blaze 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  171 

of  the  desert  sun.  It  was  very  different  footing 
from  the  level  beaten  road  beside  the  Nile,  which 
they  had  traveled  for  the  past  couple  of  days,  but 
that  seemed  to  make  no  difference  to  his  camel, 
for  it  swung  along  at  the  same  even  two-and-a- 
half  -mile-an-hour  pace,  as  disregardful  of  the  peb- 
bles as  it  was  of  the  twinges  of  pain  that  its  every 
motion  caused  the  boy. 

The  noon  halt  was  made  clear  out  on  the  desert, 
without  a  tree  in  sight.  To  the  westward 
stretched  the  blackened  and  pebbly  waste,  far  as 
the  eye  could  see,  to  the  east  could  be  seen  the 
outlines  of  the  Lisht  pyramids,  small,  but  clear 
against  the  sky,  and  Perry  knew  that  below  them 
lay  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  The  meal,  of  which 
dates  formed  a  principal  part,  was  washed  down 
with  tepid  water  from  one  of  the  f antasses,  and  al- 
ready the  boy  found  himself  aching  for  a  good 
glass  of  iced  water  in  the  American  fashion.  Ice- 
cream would  have  seemed  like  a  fairy  wish,  and, 
indeed,  it  would  take  a  fairy  godmother  or  a  genie 
from  the  Arabian  Nights  to  materialize  ice-cream 
on  the  Libyan  Desert. 

Suddenly  Perry  turned  to  his  friend. 

' '  Antoine, ' '  he  said, '  '  what 's  the  idea  of  camp- 
ing here?  " 


172       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

His  friend  sleepily  turned  over  on  one  elbow. 

"  Why  shouldn't  we  camp  here?  " 

"  I    should    have    thought/'    Perry    retorted, 
"  that  it  would  be  better  to  camp  near  water. " 

"  Yes,  yes,  but  we  are  near  water.    Tamia  is 
only  ten  miles  away. ' ' 

"  There's  water  not  half  a  mile  away,"  declared 
the  boy.     "  What's  the  use  of  fooling  that  way?  ' 

"  How  do  you  know  there  is?  "  queried  An- 
toine,  still  failing  to  betray  any  real  interest. 

"I  can  see  it!  " 

"  How  far  away?  " 

"  Less  than  half  a  mile,  I  should  say." 

"  Mr.  Wyr,"  called  Antoine,  "  how  far  away 
is  that  village  that  the  lad  sees?  ' 

"  To  the  southwest,  you  mean?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  About  forty  miles,  you  know.  That's  in  the 
Fayum." 

"  What?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  Perry,  that  is  a  mirage.  You  don't 
see  the  village  at  all,  you  only  see  the  reflection 
in  the  sky. ' ' 

There  was  an  instant's  pause,  and  then  the  boy 
said  slowly: 

"  Well,  I  can  see,  now,  how  any  one  would  get 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  173 

lost  on  the  desert  in  a  hurry.  I'd  have  started 
off  to  walk  to  that  village  without  even  stopping 
to  think." 

"  There  are  a  jolly  lot  of  skeletons  of  people 
who  have  done  that,  and  the  jackals  have  picked 
them  clean/'  the  survey  man  replied.  "  Take  my 
tip,  Perry,  and  don't  start  for  any  oasis  that  you 
don't  see  clearly  marked  on  a  map.  I've  been 
puzzled  many  a  time  by  seeing  to  my  right  or  left 
a  village  that  I  knew  by  compass  to  be  straight 
ahead.  So,  I  think,  instead  of  trying  to  reach 
that  village  you  see  there  in  the  sky,  we'll  keep 
straight  on  and  be  content  with  reaching  Tamia 
to-night." 

The  afternoon  march  was  a  long  one,  five  cara- 
van hours,  and  when  at  last  the  camels  reached 
the  village  which  is  the  last  source  of  water  for 
the  Libyan  desert,  Perry's  back  felt  as  if  it  were 
a  jig-saw  puzzle  that  had  been  wrongly  pieced 
together. 

So  much  had  been  said  about  Tamia  as  a  base 
of  supplies,  the  expedition  had  manifestly  counted 
so  much  for  its  success  on  the  utilization  of  its 
resources,  that  Perry  had  expected  it  to  be  quite 
a  sizable  town.  Instead  of  that,  he  found  Tamia 
to  be  a  settlement  of  low  flat-roofed  mud-brick 


174       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

houses,  situated  on  the  edge  of  a  green  plain, 
dotted  with  palm-trees,  while  on  the  other  side  it 
faced  the  desert. 

It  was  late  when  the  caravan  halted,  but  no 
sooner  had  it  come  to  a  standstill  and  the  tents 
pitched  than  it  became  the  center  of  a  vast  amount 
of  attention.  Perry  had  disposed  of  a  very  sat- 
isfactory supper  and  was  busily  engaged  in  try- 
ing to  find  some  particularly  soft  part  of  a  rug 
to  sit  on,  when,  with  a  great  deal  of  pomp  and 
ceremony,  an  old  Arab  rode  up,  with  ten  attend- 
ants, and  paid  his  respects  to  the  party  with  much 
palaver. 

"  Who  was  that,  Mr.  Wyr?  "  asked  the  lad, 
when  the  camp  had  settled  down. 

"  That's  Sheikh  Harun  Talasun,"  the  survey 
expert  answered ;  "  he 's  one  of  the  really  big  men 
of  the  village. " 

"  What  was  wrong?  Are  we  going  to  be  held 
up?" 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it.  No,  he  just  came  to  welcome 
us  and  to  say  he  was  sending  a  fat  sheep  as  a 
present,  for  a  feast." 

"  We'd  think  it  queer,"  put  in  the  professor, 
1 '  if  the  mayor  of  one  of  our  western  cities  should 
send  a  fat  sheep  for  a  feast  because  some  '  bone- 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  175 

diggers  '  or  bug-hunters  happened  to  come  in  his 
neighborhood,  wouldn't  we,  Antoine?  " 

"  It  would  seem  strange, "  the  Belgian  agreed. 
' '  But  it  is  common  here. ' ' 

"  Don't  you  suppose  it's  all  a  bluff,"  queried 
Perry,  "  one  of  these  '  everything  of  mine  is 
yours  '  sort  of  businesses!" 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  the 
morning  will  show." 

Next  morning,  sure  enough,  the  Sheikh  returned 
with  a  donkey,  led  by  a  slave,  and  bearing  on  its 
back  a  fine  fat  sheep.  Suitable  greetings  were  ex- 
changed and,  a  couple  of  hours  after  sunrise,  the 
caravan  was  off.  Tamia  was  left  behind,  the  last 
point  of  civilization  was  broken  with,  and  during 
the  rest  of  the  stay  in  the  desert  only  a  constantly 
moving  line  of  camels  could  keep  the  expedition 
in  water  and  supplies. 

"  It's  like  the  commissariat  of  an  army,"  said 
Perry,  when  he  realized  this;  "  if  our  line  of  com- 
munication was  cut,  we'd  be  starved  out." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  Antoine  agreed,  "  it  is  a  serious 
matter  to  be  out  of  reach  of  water,  but  we  can 
depend  on  Mr.  Wyr;  he  knows  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  do  in  Egypt." 

The  march  out  from  Tamia  was  over  very  dif- 


176       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

f  erent  country  than  the  road  over  the  small  stretch 
of  the  Libyan  desert  passed  on  the  westward  march 
from  Lisht  the  day  before.  It  was  low  and 
shingly,  with  little  scattered  tufts  of  vegetation; 
and  seemed  to  be  part  of  a  huge  saucer-like  de- 
pression. 

"  Is  this  the  Fayum?  "  asked  Perry. 
11  This  is  the  very  site  of  Lake  Moeris,"  the 
professor  answered,  "  an  artificial  lake  made  by 
Amenemhat  III.  It  used  to  be  quite  a  famous 
resort  in  Greco-Eoman  times,  Perry,  and  almost 
anywhere  around  you  might  find  Eoman  coins  if 
the  Eoman  boys  used  to  play  pitch-and-toss,  as 
Juvenal  and  some  of  their  writers  say  the  urchins 
did." 

"  Eight  here?  " 
"  Eight  on  this  very  spot." 
"  But  where  has  the  lake  gone?  " 
"  Dried  up,"  was  the  answer.    "  A  great  deal 
more  land  is  irrigated  in  the  Fayum  than  used 
to  be  the  case,  so  that  the  water  from  the  old 
canal  of  Joseph,  the  Bahr  Yusuf,  has  more  work 
and   less    overflow.    That    canal,    by    the    way, 
Perry,  was  made  so  long  ago  that  even  tradition 
has  forgotten  about  it,  and  it  was  supposed  to 
be  a  natural  river  until  recently." 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  177 

"  Who  do  you  suppose  made  it,  Uncle  George, 
was  it  Joseph?  " 

"  It  must  be  much  older  than  the  Joseph  you 
mean,  the  Joseph  of  the  Bible,"  his  uncle  replied. 
"  It  may  be  almost  as  old  as  the  Pyramids.  Lake 
Moeris  has  shrunk  to  that  lake  you  see  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  Birket-el-Qurun.  We're  going  to  camp 
on  the  other  side  of  it  to-night. " 

"  But  I  thought  there  was  no  water  in  the  des- 
ert! "  cried  Perry,  feeling  in  some  way  that  the 
trip  would  not  have  to  be  as  heroic  in  endurance 
as  he  expected. 

"  You're  welcome  to  all  of  that  water  you  can 
drink,"  was  the  reply.  "  Even  a  thirsty  camel 
won't  drink  it,  not  on  the  northern  side,  at  least. 
And  what  a  thirsty  camel  won't  drink  must  be 
mighty  bad  water,  you  can  make  quite  sure  of 
that." 

"  Does  anything  drink  it?  " 

"  Some  of  the  wild  life  of  the  desert  comes 
down,"  was  the  reply.  "  I've  seen  gazelle,  quite 
often,  the  little  Dorcas  Gazelle,  especially.  That's 
a  tiny  beast,  Perry,  not  more  than  three  feet  high 
and  usually  even  smaller." 

6 «  With  horns?  " 

"  Pretty  lyre-shaped  horns  a  foot  long.    You 


178       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

often  see  them  around  the  western  end  of  Birket- 
el-Qurun,  and  occasionally  at  this  end. 

"  I'd  like  a  head  for  a  trophy!  " 

"  Can  you  reach  your  rifle  easily?  If  you  can, 
there's  no  reason  why  you  shouldn't  get  a  gazelle 
if  you  have  a  chance.  I'm  not  much  of  a  believer 
in  mere  shooting  for  the  sake  of  shooting,  but  I 
don't  go  to  extremes,  and  a  gazelle  more  or  less 
won't  make  much  difference  to  the  desert  fauna. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  sport.  What  I  hate  is 
the  kind  of  so-called  sportsman  who  takes  a  de- 
light in  seeing  how  many  he  can  '  bag.'  " 

"  I  can  get  at  my  rifle  in  a  second,  Uncle 
George,"  said  the  boy  eagerly,  "but  we're  not 
going  near  the  shore  of  the  lake,  are  we  ?  " 

"  Not  so  very  close,"  the  professor  replied, 
"  The  road  keeps  well  to  the  east. 

"  Could  Antoine  and  I  break  away  from  the 
trail,  on  the  chance  of  getting  a  shot?  " 

"I'll  see,"  his  uncle  replied,  and  called  Mi- 
chawi.  With  Wyr  as  interpreter  a  few  minutes 
of  animated  conversation  occurred  and  then  the 
scientist  said: 

"  Very  well,  Perry,  as  long  as  you  promise 
not  to  go  along  the  shore  to  the  south  at  all,  I 
don't  see  that  you  can  get  lost.  We'll  be  on  the 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  179 

ledge  above,  and  probably  can  see  you,  any  way. ' ' 

"  Bully!  "  cried  the  lad,  and  went  to  get  his 
gun. 

Branching  away  from  the  main  caravan,  Perry 
and  Antoine  turned  their  camels '  heads  away  from 
the  upward  slope  out  of  the  valley  of  the  Fayum 
and  turned  westwards  towards  the  lake.  They 
scared  up  a  large  pale-colored  Egyptian  hare,  but 
with  his  uncle's  warning  against  unnecessary 
slaughter,  the  lad  did  not  shoot  it.  He  asked  just 
one  question: 

"  I  suppose  we  have  a  specimen  of  that  rabbit 
in  the  museum,  Antoine,  haven't  we?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes,  quite  common, "  said  the  other, 
and  the  hare  was  allowed  to  jump  away  unmo- 
lested. A  little  desert  fox,  or  fennec,  which  had 
been  lurking  near  by,  evidently  with  designs  upon 
the  hare,  also  was  frightened  by  the  approach  of 
the  camels  and  darted  away  in  a  different  direc- 
tion. But  Perry  was  after  gazelle  and  nothing 
else  would  serve. 

At  last,  towards  the  end  of  the  afternoon,  when 
already  they  had  reached  the  reedy  edge  of  the 
Birket-el-Qurun,  Perry  heard  a  low  whistle  from 
Antoine,  and  saw  a  small  object  streaking  like 
the  wind  along  the  shore.  He  jumped  off  the 


i8o       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

camel,  without  waiting  for  it  to  kneel,  nearly  fall- 
ing on  his  nose  as  he  did  so,  and  though  the  ga- 
zelle was  going  so  fast  that  it  seemed  foolish  to 
try,  raised  the  rifle  to  his  shoulder  and  fired. 

"  By  jimmy,  I  hit  him,"  cried  the  lad,  as  he 
saw  the  little  creature  roll  over  and  over  in  the 
sand. 

He  ran  up  to  it.  The  shot  had  been  well  placed 
and  the  gazelle  had  died  without  pain  and  with- 
out a  struggle. 

"  Yes,  yes,  good  shooting/'  said  Antoine,  as  he 
came  up.  ' '  Good  horns,  too. ' ' 

There  was  regret  as  well  as  triumph  in  the  boy's 
glance  as  he  looked  down  at  the  graceful,  slender 
creature,  which  a  moment  before  had  been  full 
of  life.  But  he  was  no  sentimentalist  and  rec- 
ognized the  difference  between  shooting  for  a  defi- 
nite purpose  and  wanton  slaughter.  •• 

Short  though  the  digression  had  been,  it  had 
led  Antoine  and  Perry  a  little  distance  from  their 
course,  and  had  taken  up  time.  Perry's  camel, 
too,  had  gone  on  walking  without  his  rider  and 
had  to  be  overtaken  and  turned.  The  ground 
skirting  the  edge  of  the  lake,  was  rougher,  and 
the  sun  was  sinking  toward  the  horizon. 

"  We'd  better  hurry,"  said  Antoine,  after  he 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  181 

had  helped  Perry  to  secure  the  little  gazelle  on 
the  camel  saddle  beside  him,  "  I  don't  know  this 
country  well  enough  to  travel  in  the  dark." 

"  But  it  doesn't  really  get  dark,"  said  the  boy, 
remembering  his  night  before  the  Sphinx  with  the 
artist,  "  one  could  almost  read  by  the  stars  here, 
they're  so  bright." 

"  You  think  so,"  was  the  other's  reply.  "  But 
I've  tried  finding  desert  trails  before.  How  about 
it,  Perry ;  are  you  feeling  all  right  1  ' ' 

"  Fine,"  answered  the  boy,  "  if  my  back  didn't 
hurt  so.  You  know,  Antoine,  when  I  fired,  the 
kick  of  the  rifle  made  me  think  I'd  got  the  bullet 
in  my  own  spine,  it  gave  such  a  jolt." 

"  You've  only  got  one  more  day's  riding,"  his 
friend  assured  him,  as  he  walked  over  to  his  kneel- 
ing camel,  "  and  on  the  way  home  you'll  be  tough- 
ened up  a  bit." 

Passing  from  the  northern  border  of  the  lake, 
the  camels  started  to  climb.  Then  it  was  that 
Perry  realized  that  no  matter  how  good  a  camel 
may  be  on  sandy  level,  or  for  that  matter  on 
undulating  sand  dunes,  a  really  sharp  slope,  such 
as  the  first  hundred  foot  pitch  from  the  lake  level 
up  to  a  ledge  on  which  stood  the  ruins  of  an  old 
temple  was  more  than  his  beast  could  manage. 


1 82       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Following  Antoine 's  example,  lie  slipped  out  of 
his  seat,  none  too  sorry  to  get  a  change,  and,  tak- 
ing the  camel's  rope,  led  the  animal  up  the  slope. 
It  took  an  hour's  scrambling,  and  Perry  was  al- 
most breathless  when  they  reached  the  first  of 
the  ledges. 

"  Stiffish  pull,"  he  remarked,  as  Antoine  halted 
beside  him. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  the  other  answered.  "  But  I  think 
that  one  is  the  worst." 

The  light  was  falling  in  long  slanting  shadows 
over  the  ledge  and  Perry,  kicking  idly  at  a  white 
object  in  the  sand  with  his  feet,  saw  that  it  was 
a  bone.  More  in  curiosity  than  with  any  other 
idea,  he  scooped  the  sand  from  around  the  bone 
with  his  foot. 

"  Some  poor  camel  foundered  after  the  climb — ' ' 
he  began,  then  stopped  suddenly. 

"  Antoine,"  he  said,  with  a  curious  note  in  his 
voice,  "  hasn't  a  camel  got  sharp  teeth  on  the 
lower  jaw?  " 

"  You  would  think  they  were  sharp  if  they 
nipped  you,"  was  the  answer.  "  Why?  " 

For  answer  Perry  dropped  down  on  the  sand 
and  began  scooping  away  the  sand  from  around 
the  bone  he  had  uncovered  as  if  he  were  a  terrier 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  183 

digging  for  a  rat.  Antoine  watched  him  with 
growing  interest. 

' '  What  have  you  got  there  I  ' '  he  queried. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  the  boy,  stuttering  in 
excitement,  "  it  looks  like  the  skull  of  a  seal!  " 

"  Whatever  it  is,  I'm  ready  to  wager  that  it 
isn't  a  seal,"  said  Antoine,  but  hurrying  over, 
none  the  less.  "  If  you  thought  for  a  minute, 
Perry,  you'd  see  that  it  couldn't  be  a  seal.  It's 
more  likely — " 

He  had  reached  the  lad  and  looked  down.  He 
gave  a  long,  low  whistle. 

"  Let's  get  it  out!  "  cried  the  boy  and  reached 
down  to  grab  the  bones. 

His  hands  were  just  closing  on  them  when  An- 
toine's  grip  caught  him  by  the  shoulder  and  hurled 
him  backwards. 

'  '  What  the—"  began  the  boy. 

But  Antoine  paid  no  heed.  His  head  was  down 
in  the  hole  that  the  boy  had  made,  and  he  was 
blowing  the  sand  away  with  his  breath  as  though 
the  bone  were  made  of  feathers.  Then  he  looked 
up. 

"  I  think  it's  an  Eosiren,"  he  said.  "  If  it  is, 
Perry,  it's  a  bully  find." 

"  Let's  take  it  to  camp!  " 


184       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  How?  "  queried  the  other.  "  Pick  it  up  the 
way  you  were  going  to  1  ' ' 

"  Why  not?  " 

"  You  haven't  learned  the  first  thing  about  fos- 
sil-collecting yet,"  the  other  replied.  "  In  the 
first  place,  before  a  bone  is  moved,  it  must  be 
studied  just  in  the  position  in  which  it  lies.  Quite 
often  the  position  of  the  bones  may  be  of  tre- 
mendous help  in  restoration.  For  example,  Perry, 
the  legs  of  the  great  fossil  swimming  bird  Hes- 
perornis  were  supposed  for  years  to  be  attached 
to  the  skeleton  in  a  way  that  we  now  know  to 
have  been  entirely  different.  And,  for  another 
thing,  you  can't  tell  just  how  fragile  fossilized 
bones  may  be.  You  might  smash  them  all  to 
pieces,  just  by  picking  them  up  the  way  you  started 
to  do." 

"That's  why  you  collared  me, "  exclaimed 
Perry,  "  I  was  wondering." 

"  Of  course.  Now  hurry,  Perry,  and  gather  a 
lot  of  stones.  We've  got  to  make  a  heap  so  that 
we  can  easily  find  the  place  again,  and  get  Dr. 
Hunt  to  come  down  to-morrow.  I  '11  take  the  bear- 
ings." 

Pulling  from  his  pocket  a  note-book  and  pen- 
cil, Antoine  noted  with  extreme  care  the  exact 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  185 

bearing  of  as  many  different  points  as  he  could. 
Meantime  Perry,  first  alone,  and  afterwards  with 
Antoine's  aid,  built  up  a  small  heap  of  pebbles, 
on  the  top  of  which  they  spread  a  white  handker- 
chief, weighting  this  down  by  a  stone  at  each  cor- 
ner. It  was  nearly  dark  when  they  were  finished, 
and  Perry  clambered  back  into  his  camel-saddle 
eagerly. 

Along  the  ledge  they  traveled,  not  knowing  just 
where  the  rest  of  the  caravan  might  be,  and,  as 
time  went  on,  Antoine  began  to  look  a  little 
troubled. 

"  How  do  you  hurry  up  a  camel?  "  Perry 
shouted  to  his  companion. 

"  You  don't,"  was  the  reply.  "  A  camel  can't 
be  taught  to  hurry.  He'll  walk  and  carry  a  load. 
That's  about  all." 

Perry  clucked  to  his  beast,  reached  over  and 
slapped  it  on  the  hump,  and  did  everything  he 
could  to  suggest  speed.  He  might  as  well  have 
tried  to  influence  the  desert  sand,  the  camel  went 
walking  steadily  along,  not  changing  its  double- 
jointed  walk  by  a  hair 's-breadth. 

Just  as  the  sun  was  disappearing  on  the  edge 
of  the  horizon,  one  of  its  last  rays  caught  and 


1 86       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

illumined  a  spot  of  color  on  the  ledge  just  a  little 
above  them. 

' i  No  chance  of  getting  lost  now, ' '  called  Perry, 
cheerily,  "  there 's  the  Stars  and  Stripes. " 


CHAPTEB  VH 

FINDING  THE   ELEPHANT'S   GREAT-GBANDFATHEB 

IT  was  with  great  excitement  and  not  a  little 
pride  that  Perry  came  racking  up  to  the  camp. 
He  held  up  the  Dorcas  gazelle  as  he  approached, 
and  even  in  the  dusk  the  slender  horns  could  be 
seen.  As  soon  as  he  drew  near,  moreover,  he 
shouted, 

"  Uncle  George,  I've  got  an  Eosiren!  " 

"  That's  a  gazelle,  not  an  Eosiren,"  said  the 
professor,  smiling.  He  had  been  a  little  anxious 
and  was  unfeignedly  glad  to  see  the  boy  safe,  and 
in  good  spirits. 

"  I  don't  mean  this,"  said  the  boy.  "  What 
nonsense,  Uncle  George!  No,  but  really,  I  did 
find  one!  " 

"  Did  it  bite?  " 

"  Please  don't  tease,"  protested  Perry. 
"Honest,  I  did!  " 

The  leader  of  the  expedition  looked  inquiringly 
at  the  boy's  companion,  as  the  latter  dismounted 
and  came  up. 

187 


i88       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  He's  right,  I  think,  Dr.  Hunt,"  responded 
Antoine,  in  answer  to  the  look.  * l  I  knew  we  were 
late  and  it  was  getting  so  dark  that  I  didn't  have 
much  chance  to  examine  it,  but  it  looked  to  me  like 
Eosiren  Andrewsii." 

"  You  don't  suppose  it  was  Eotherium?  "  the 
professor  asked,  hopefully.  "  I'm  very  anxious 
to  take  home  to  the  Museum  a  good  Eotherium. 
What  level  was  it  on?  " 

"  On  this  one,  sir,"  the  younger  paleontologist 
answered,  "  in  the  estuarine  deposit,  not  in  the 
Birket-el-Qurun  level.  That  was  why  I  thought 
immediately  it  must  be  Eosiren.  There's  not 
much  chance  of  finding  Eotherium  as  high  as  this 
level,  is  there?  ' 

"  Very  little,  I  should  say;  almost  none,"  was 
the  reply. 

"  Is  there  such  an  awful  lot  of  difference, 
Uncle  George?  "  the  boy  asked.  "  That  is,  be- 
tween this  level  and  the  one  underneath.  I  know, 
of  course,  the  under  one  is  the  oldest,  but  are  the 
fossils  so  different?  " 

"  Very  different,  my  boy,"  was  the  reply. 
"  They  would  have  to  be,  for  almost  a  million 
years  passed  between  the  deposits  of  this  level 
and  that.  The  stratum  of  which  Antoine  is  speak- 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  189 

ing,  just  above  the  level  of  Birket-el-Qurun,  is  a 
marine  limestone.  This  level  is  estuarine,  that 
is  to  say,  it  is  a  deposit  of  material  brought  down 
by  the  great  river  that  flowed  through  this  val- 
ley millions  of  years  ago,  and  like  most  estuarine 
deposits,  the  fossils  found  in  this  stratum  are  of 
the  land  as  well  as  of  the  sea. 

"  You  can  understand,  Perry,  that  in  a  true 
marine  or  sea  deposit  you  wouldn't  find  land  ani- 
mals. It  would  be  as  foolish  to  look  for  land 
animals  in  a  marine  deposit  as  it  would  be  to  go 
dredging  in  the  middle  of  the  North  Atlantic  now 
for  the  bones  of  a  modern  rhinoceros,  or  to  scour 
the  surface  of  the  western  prairies  in  the  hope  of 
finding  a  modern  whale  left  high  and  dry." 

"  So  mine  isn't  one  of  the  oldest,"  said  Perry, 
disappointed.  "I'd  been  hoping  I'd  found  some- 
thing that  nobody  had  ever  seen  before." 

"  You're  greedy,"  his  uncle  said,  smiling; 
"  many  an  old  fossil-hunter  has  worked  for  years 
before  finding  a  specimen  of  a  species  new  to  sci- 
ence, and  yet  you  expect  to  kick  one  up  on  the  very 
first  day." 

16 1  don't  know  that  I  really  expected  to,  Uncle 
George,"  the  lad  replied,  "  but  I  would  like  to 
collar  a  new  one  sometime." 


190       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

'  '  You  probably  will,  and  meantime,  in  the  morn- 
ing we'll  hustle  over  to  the  place  of  your  dis- 
covery and  find  out  what  it  is  that  you've  really 
got" 

"  I  hope  it's  the  one  you  want — the  Eother- 
ium!  " 

"  If  you  found  the  bones  on  this  level,  it's  not," 
rejoined  the  leader,  "  you  can  make  your  mind 
easy  about  that.  A  dead  Eotherium  wouldn't 
work  its  bones  up  through  a  hundred  feet  of  rock. 
But  if  you  want  to  go  with  us  in  the  morning  to 
help  prepare  this  specimen  of  yours,  you  'd  better 
make  a  bee-line  for  your  pillow  now,  for  there's 
a  long  day's  travel  to-morrow  and  I  won't  delay 
the  start  of  the  caravan  for  a  dozen  Eosirens. 
Sunrise  for  you,  Perry,  if  you  want  to  come." 

"  All  right,"  the  boy  replied,  and  being  tired 
and  backsore  from  the  camel-riding,  he  started 
off  for  the  sleeping-tent  and  was  soon  fast  asleep. 

He  had  no  difficulty  in  waking.  The  sense  of 
expectancy  brought  him  out  of  the  tent  even  be- 
fore the  rim  of  the  sun  was  above  the  horizon, 
and  the  dawn  brought  vividly  back  to  him  the 
vigil  he  had  spent  before  the  Sphinx.  Early  as 
he  was,  he  was  no  more  prompt  than  his  uncle  and 
Antoine,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  party  was  off, 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  191 

followed  by  a  couple  of  laborers  with  shovels  and 
one  fellow  carrying  plaster-of-paris,  canvas,  and 
glue. 

The  white  handkerchief,  spread  out  on  the  little 
cairn  of  stones,  made  a  conspicuous  object,  and 
no  time  was  lost  in  reaching  it.  To  the  trained 
eye  of  the  professor,  the  tangled  heap  of  bones 
contained  no  mystery.  He  gave  them  just  one 
glance. 

"  You're  right,  Antoine,"  was  all  he  said,  "it's 
Eosiren  Andrewsii." 

Under  the  scientist's  expert  directions,  the  la- 
borers were  set  at  work.  Almost  every  move- 
ment of  the  shovels  was  watched  with  closest  at- 
tention, and  Perry  was  surprised  at  the  extreme 
care  that  was  taken.  At  last  the  bones  were  fully 
uncovered  and  Antoine  made  a  detailed  drawing 
of  the  exact  position  in  which  they  lay. 

"  How  could  you  tell  at  once  that  it  was  a  cer- 
tain species  of  Eosiren,  Uncle  George?  "  asked 
Perry,  while  Antoine  was  busy  with  his  sketch- 
block. 

"  One  gets  accustomed  to  fossils,  my  boy,"  was 
the  reply,  "  and  can  tell  a  great  many  of  them 
almost  at  sight.  Then,  Perry,  any  time  that  you 
want  to  try  and  determine  for  yourself  what  fos- 


192      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

sil  bones  may  be,  remember  that  there  are  only 
a  certain  number  of  animals  which  they  can  pos- 
sibly be.  You  know  from  the  stratum,  for  ex- 
ample, that  the  bones  are  not  likely  to  be  those 
of  a  creature  which  developed  in  later  times,  nor 
of  one  belonging  to  an  earlier  stage  of  develop- 
ment. You'll  see  just  what  I  mean  if  I  say  that 
you  couldn't  find  a  Pteranodon  in  this  stratum  be- 
cause all  the  Pteranodons  were  dead  before  this 
layer  of  rocks  was  laid  down. 

"  But  I  thought  Sirens  were  sea-cows,  things 
like  the  manatee  and  dugong,"  protested  the  boy. 

"  They  are,"  said  the  scientist,  "  what  about 
it?" 

"  This  beast  has  got  four  legs." 

The  professor  nodded  approvingly  at  his 
nephew. 

"  Very  good,  Perry,"  he  said,  "  I'm  glad  to 
see  that  you  tell  bones  so  clearly.  The  Eosiren 
did  have  hind  legs.  Both  the  manatee  of  Florida 
and  the  dugong  of  the  Bed  Sea  have  lost  their 
hind  legs.  The  Halitherium  of  the  Oligocene 
Period  had  only  a  rudimentary  hind  leg,  so  that 
you  can  see  how  far  back  in  the  history  of  Sirenian 
development  this  Eosiren  comes.  But  what  makes 
him  especially  interesting  to  us  on  this  trip,  Perry, 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  193 

is  that  he's  distantly  related  to  the  ancestor  of 
the  elephant,  and,  as  you  know,  we're  hot  on  the 
trail  of  elephants." 

"  I  don't  see  how  a  sea-cow  can  be  on  the  road 
to  the  elephants,"  ejaculated  Perry  in  suprise. 
"  It  looks  a  heap  more  like  a  seal." 

"  Looks  don't  count  for  a  great  deal  in  pale- 
ontology, my  boy,"  warned  the  scientist.  He 
turned  to  Antoine,  who  was  putting  up  his  pen- 
cils. "  Have  you  finished?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  younger  man,  show- 
ing his  sketch  to  the  leader  of  the  expedition,  who 
scanned  it  closely. 

"  H'm,  yes,"  he  said,  "  that's  about  it.  Now 
we'd  better  get  up  the  bones." 

The  fragility  of  the  Eosiren  skeleton  made  this 
a  more  difficult  task  than  Perry  had  expected,  and 
he  inwardly  blessed  Antoine  a  dozen  times  that 
his  friend  had  kept  him  from  trying  to  pull  the 
bones  out  of  the  sand  by  main  force.  First,  by 
carefully  hardening  them  with  glue,  and  then  by 
wrapping  them  with  canvas  and  plaster-of-paris 
bandages,  finally  all  the  bones  were  got  ready  for 
removal,  and,  for  the  time  was  wearing  on,  the 
party  hurried  back  to  the  camp,  snatched  a  hasty 
breakfast  and  gave  word  for  the  caravan  to  start. 


i94       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

As  they  moved  away,  Perry  and  his  uncle  turned 
for  a  last  look  over  the  level  which  had  given  the 
boy  his  first  paleontological  prize,  and  the  scientist 
drew  his  nephew's  attention  to  the  ruined  temple 
of  Qasr-el-Sagha,  visible  in  the  distance. 

"  That's  an  easy  place  to  remember,"  said  the 
scientist,  and  plunged  into  the  history  of  the 
temple  when  it  stood  on  the  very  banks  of  Lake 
Moeris  and  was  the  center  of  a  busy  Boman  colony, 
' '  easy  to  remember  because  it  has  given  its  name 
to  the  giant  coney  of  Eocene  times.  If  you  did 
a  little  digging  here,  you  would  find  many  of  his 
bones.  Think  a  minute  and  see  if  you  can't  guess 
the  name." 

"  '  Therium  '  means  beast,"  said  Perry,  medi- 
tatively, "  and  the  name  of  the  temple  is  Qasr- 
el-Sagha,  Oh,  I  know!  "  he  said,  eagerly,  "  the 
Saghatherium !  We've  got  him  at  home  in  the 
Museum." 

"  Exactly,"  said  his  uncle.  "  Now  you  know 
where  he  comes  from." 

"  I  never  thought  Saghatherium  was  just  a 
coney,"  said  the  boy.  "  I  saw  a  coney  in  the 
Zoo  at  Cairo,  when  you  were  arranging  about 
this  trip.  He  was  a  fierce  little  chap,  but  nothing 
like  as  large  as  our  fossil  at  home." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

AT  THE  TEMPLE  OF  QASR-EL-SAGHA. 

Museum  Expedition  in  Egypt,  starting  out  for  camp,  two  days'  camel 
journey  from  water. 


of  American 

ACROSS  THE  LIBYAN  DESERT. 

The  Museum  party  on  the  sunburned  stony  plain.    Note  four  pyramids 
in  distance,  at  extreme  right. 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  195 

"  He  isn't  as  large, "  was  the  reply.  "  The 
Saghatherium  was  bigger,  and  he  was  a  fighter, 
too.  Herds  of  them  ran  over  this  plain  in  Eocene 
times,  and  with  their  fighting  tusks,  a  pack  of 
them  would  have  been  an  ugly  foe  to  meet.  Do 
you  remember  the  tusks,  Perry?  " 

"  I  think  I  do,"  answered  the  lad  truthfully, 
"  but  I'm  not  quite  sure.  I  didn't  pay  much  heed 
to  them,  when  I  was  in  the  Museum.  But  I  will 
when  I  get  back,  you  bet." 

11  You  needn't  go  to  the  Zoo  to  see  a  coney," 
said  the  professor,  squinting  in  the  bright  sun- 
light. "  If  I'm  not  mistaken,  there's  one  off 
there  amid  the  rocks.  See  him?  "  and  he  pointed 
to  a  crevice. 

Perry  shaded  his  eyes  with  his  hand. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  "  I  spot  him.  He's  hard 
to  see,  though,  against  the  rock.  Looks  a  little 
like  a  rabbit." 

"  And  yet  he's  more  nearly  related  to  an  ele- 
phant than  a  rabbit,"  the  professor  commented. 
"  As  I  was  telling  you,  Perry,  looks  don't  count 
for  a  great  deal." 

Conversation  dropped  as  the  ascent  became  stif- 
fer.  The  caravan  was  going  up  the  steep  ravines 
which  form  the  only  way  between  the  level  on 


196      THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

which  the  ruined  temple  stands  and  the  next  bench, 
atop  of  the  great  cliff  rising  four  hundred  feet 
above  them.  One  of  the  baggage  camels,  which 
had  a  pair  of  weak  hind-legs,  refused  at  first  to 
try  to  make  the  climb  and  had  to  be  pushed  from 
behind  by  all  the  drivers  together,  while  its  bub- 
bling roar  filled  the  ravine  with  hideous  noise. 
The  steep  slopes  also  put  a  strain  on  the  loads 
and  many  of  them  came  off. 

"  Seems  to  me  these  camel-drivers  ought  to 
learn  to  throw  the  diamond  hitch,"  suggested 
Perry,  as  the  second  load  fell  to  the  ground. 

His  uncle  looked  at  him  quizzically. 

"  Did  you  ever  throw  one?  "  he  asked. 

"  Never,"  the  lad  replied. 

"  I  thought  not,"  commented  the  leader  of  the 
expedition,  "  or  you  wouldn't  talk  so  glibly  about 
doing  it  over  a  camel's  wobbly  hump.  You've 
got  to  have  something  solid,  like  a  mule's  ribs, 
if  you  want  to  tighten  cinches  to  that  extent." 

61 1  suppose  the  Arabs  know  best,  at  that,"  the 
boy  admitted.  "  After  all,  these  Egyptian  chaps 
have  been  loading  camels  for  a  good  many  thou- 
sand years." 

"  Exactly.  And  besides,  Perry,  this  climb  is 
unusual  traveling  for  camels.  They're  accus- 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  197 

tomed  to  the  level  or  to  the  slopes  of  sand  dunes. 
Except  for  the  Egyptian  Survey,  which  discovered 
this  bone  deposit  a  few  years  ago,  probably  no 
one  has  taken  the  trouble  to  climb  this  cliff  since 
the  days  that  Lake  Moeris  occupied  a  large  part 
of  the  valley  below." 

On  the  next  tier  above,  Perry  suddenly  found 
a  vast  change  in  the  character  of  the  rock  and 
saw  thousands  of  beautiful  sea-shells  in  the  solid 
limestone  scattered  on  every  side. 

Off  his  camel  he  jumped  again,  and  filled  his 
pockets  with  bits  of  stone  containing  the  shells. 
They  were  heavy  to  carry  in  the  intense  heat,  when 
every  extra  ounce  counted,  but  he  simply  could 
not  pass  them  by. 

"  This  must  have  been  the  bed  of  the  sea  for 
a  long  time,"  said  the  lad  to  Antoine,  "  this  lime- 
stone deposit  is  so  thick." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  his  friend  answered.  "  The  Medi- 
terranean came  down  south  of  this.  Of  course,  the 
shore  has  changed  many  times." 

"  What  has  built  up  all  the  north  coast  of 
Africa,"  queried  Perry,  "  just  the  rising  of  the 
land?" 

"  Partly;  but  a  great  deal  of  it  was  caused  by 
the  discharge  of  the  mud  of  rivers  and  streams, 


198       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

making  new  land,  in  the  same  way  that  the  Missis- 
sippi is  making  new  land  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
But  you  see,  Perry,  as  fast  as  the  new  land  was 
made,  the  continent  sank,  so  that  the  filling  and 
sinking  went  ahead  at  about  the  same  rate.  Some- 
times the  sea  won  out,  and  we  find  a  layer  that 
is  marine;  sometimes  the  land  won  out,  and  the 
layer  is  a  river  or  fresh-water  deposit.  When 
we  start  to  dig  out  fossils,  you'll  probably  find 
land  and  sea  creatures  close  together.  That's  be- 
cause when  it  was  a  shallow  sea,  the  marine  crea- 
tures died  and  their  bones  sank  to  the  bottom, 
and  when  it  was  marsh,  the  land  animals  died 
in  the  swamp  and  the  bones  became  covered  with 
mud.  Then  the  sea  took  the  upper  hand  again, 
as  the  continent  sank." 

"  It's  beginning  to  look  as  though  we  were  get- 
ting into  the  time  when  the  land  was  ahead,"  re- 
marked Perry,  examining  the  soil. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  Antoine,  "  you  are  right. 
And  see!  " 

He  pointed  to  the  face  of  the  escarpment,  up 
which  they  were  toilsomely  climbing. 

"  Fossil  trees!  "  cried  Perry. 

"  Yes,  yes.  All  petrified.  All  these  trees 
floated  down  that  river  millions  of  years  ago. 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  199 

There  were  floods.  There  will  be  animals  here, 
too,  that  were  carried  down  by  the  floods."  He 
pointed  to  one  of  the  many  bones  that  could  be 
seen.  "  The  crocodiles  were  here,"  he  said,  "  so 
the  bones  are  likely  to  be  all  separated,  the  dead 
animals  having  been  pulled  apart  when  they  were 
eaten.  It  will  not  be  easy,  Perry.  There  must 
have  been  a  sand-bar  at  the  mouth  of  that  old  river 
somewhere  about  here,  and  when  the  animals  came 
drifting  down  with  the  river  gravel  and  sand, 
they  were  stopped  and  piled  up  at  the  sand-bar. " 

"  Hello — "  interrupted  the  boy,  "  what's  hap- 
pening? It  isn't  sunset  yet!  " 

The  whole  caravan  had  halted,  as  if  at  the 
time  of  Mohammedan  prayer,  and  the  men  and 
boys  fell  on  their  knees.  But,  this  time,  the  camels 
and  donkeys  crowded  in  and  the  lad  saw  that  a 
few  small  rain-pools  had  been  discovered.  This 
unexpected  supply  of  water  cheered  everybody, 
and  it  was  only  a  little  more  than  two  hours  later 
that  the  tents  of  the  advance  party  came  into  sight. 
This  party,  carrying  supplies  and  the  heavy  tools, 
had  gone  from  Cairo  to  Tamia  by  train  and  hence 
had  arrived  three  days  earlier. 

Late  that  evening  the  tents  were  reached  and 
the  permanent  camp  pitched.  It  was  on  the  wid- 


200       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

est  of  these  ledges  or  tiers  of  rock,  a  ledge  vary- 
ing from  one  to  two  miles  wide  and  stretching 
in  an  almost  even  line  sixty  to  seventy  miles  long. 
The  level  of  the  Libyan  desert  was  six  hundred 
feet  higher  still,  a  stiff  climb. 

"  I  don't  know  how  you  feel  about  it,  Antoine," 
said  Perry,  confidingly  to  his  friend,  as  they 
turned  in  for  the  night,  "  and  I  wouldn't  say  so  to 
Uncle  George  for  the  world,  but  I'm  sure  glad  to 
have  a  rest  from  that  camel.  I  was  just  beginning 
to  think  that  my  backbone  never  would  come 
straight  again." 

Antoine  smiled  sympathetically. 

"  I  think  it  is  the  worst  animal  that  man  has 
ever  used  as  a  beast  on  which  to  ride,"  he  admit- 
ted. "  I'm  stiff,  too." 

11  It's  the  worst  I  ever  want  to  ride,"  rejoined 
the  boy,  and  yawning,  fell  asleep. 

At  sunrise  the  next  day,  the  work  of  excavation 
was  begun  in  earnest.  Daoud  and  the  laborers 
had  been  eagerly  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  rest 
of  the  party,  especially  that  of  Dr.  Hunt,  who 
was  known  as  "  El  Mudir  "  (the  governor)  by  all 
the  natives.  Perry  was  assigned  the  duty  of  su- 
pervising the  work  of  the  laborers  at  one  of  the 
excavations  and  he  had  his  hands  full,  for  the 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  201 

Egyptians  were  as  excitable  as  children,  and  at  the 
slightest  sign  of  a  bone  wanted  to  pull  it  out  in 
triumph.  They  had  been  working  with  the  Art 
Museum  explorations,  and  it  was  difficult  to  ex- 
plain to  them  that  while  a  vase  or  a  statuette  was 
a  thing  in  itself,  a  bone  was  of  special  value  chiefly 
when  its  relation  to  other  bones  was  clearly  shown. 
Besides  which,  Perry  had  received  a  good  lesson 
as  to  the  perishability  of  bones,  in  connection 
with  the  Eosiren  and  this  caused  him  to  be  care- 
ful. 

"  Hey!  "  he  shouted  suddenly  to  one  of  the 
men,  who  was  walking  off  with  a  basket  of  sand 
on  his  shoulder,  from  the  top  of  which  a  small 
piece  of  bone  was  protruding,  "  What  are  you 
doing  with  that?  " 

The  tone,  rather  than  the  words,  halted  the  man, 
and  he  stopped.  But  his  knowledge  of  English 
was  not  much  greater  than  the  few  words  of 
Arabic  that  Perry  had  picked  up  in  the  week  he 
had  been  in  Egypt  and  matters  were  at  a  dead- 
lock when  Daoud  came  along.  Perry  explained 
his  point  and  a  brief  colluquy  in  Arabic  ensued. 

' '  He  says  some  one  told  him  that  we  were  look- 
ing for  elephant  bones,  and  so  he  didn't  think  a 
little  bone  like  that  would  be  any  use." 


202       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Tell  him,  then,  Daoud,"  said  the  boy,  "  that 
the  kind  of  elephants  we're  looking  for  were  some- 
times as  small  as  cats." 

Even  Daoud 's  impassive  face  could  not  hide  the 
fact  that  he  thought  this  a  fib — as  it  was  undoubt- 
edly a  gross  exaggeration,  but  he  translated  it  as 
bidden. 

Immediately  the  laborer  put  down  his  basket, 
and  taking  out  the  small  bone,  handed  it  dramat- 
ically to  Perry,  saying  in  Arabic: 

"  Elephant !» 

Everybody  laughed  and  the  excavation  pro- 
ceeded, but  the  fellaheen  had  learned  the  impor- 
tance of  every  bone,  no  matter  how  tiny,  and 
several  small  but  important  finds  were  made. 
The  amount  of  sand  to  be  removed,  however, 
proved  greater  than  Dr.  Hunt  had  anticipated, 
and  it  was  with  great  pleasure  that  the  expedition 
saw  the  arrival  of  a  party  of  twelve  men  from 
Kuft,  coming  to  ask  for  work.  They  had  walked 
the  two  days'  distance  into  the  waterless  desert, 
and  it  was  evident,  as  soon  as  they  arrived,  that 
they  were  already  regretting  the  loss  of  the  cooler 
and  more  grateful  valley  of  the  Nile.  Also,  they 
speedily  saw  that  the  distance  of  the  camp  from 
the  base  of  supplies  might  mean  scanty  rations. 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  203 

"  I'm  glad  to  have  those  extra  men,"  remarked 
the  professor  at  dinner  that  evening. 

"  Are  you?  "  queried  Wyr  pointedly. 

The  scientist  looked  at  him  inquiringly. 

"  Why  not?  " 

"  I  rather  fancy  there's  trouble  ahead,"  he  an- 
swered. "  They  didn't  come  up  in  the  sort  of  way 
those  beggars  usually  do  when  they're  looking  for 
work.  They  may  be  all  right,  you  know,  but,  per- 
sonally, I  thought  them  a  bally  discontented-look- 
ing lot." 

The  truth  of  this  guess  was  apparent  less  than 
half  an  hour  later.  Daoud,  accompanied  by  the 
leader  of  the  twelve  men  from  Kuft,  came  to  the 
tent  and  asked  to  see  El  Mudir.  He  made  a  de- 
mand of  ten  piastres  (fifty  cents)  a  day,  or  all 
the  men  would  quit  work  immediately.  The  pro- 
fessor heard  them  and  sent  them  away  without  an 
answer. 

"  You  know  I  can't  pay  it,"  he  said  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  party,  after  the  natives  had  gone. 
"  If  I  do,  it'll  upset  the  labor  market  along  the 
Nile,  everywhere,  and  every  government  party  will 
have  to  pay  that  price  forever  after.  I  suppose 
I  can  give  them  a  little  more  than  the  average, 
because  this  work  is  on  the  desert  and  a  long  way 


204       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

from  everything.     What  do  you  think,  Mr.  Wyr?  " 

"I'll  try  to  handle  them,  if  you  like,"  was  the 
reply. 

"  Only  too  glad,"  said  the  professor,  and  the 
leaders  of  the  natives  were  sent  for. 

Perry,  of  course,  could  not  understand  a  word, 
but,  knowing  the  subject  under  discussion,  he  was 
able  to  follow  a  good  deal  of  that  long  confer- 
ence. It  lasted  for  three  hours  under  the  black 
and  starlit  sky  of  Egypt,  a  battle  between  capital 
and  labor,  out  in  the  naked  desert,  a  day's  jour- 
ney away  from  water.  Inside  the  tent,  reading 
by  the  light  of  one  candle,  the  professor  sat,  in 
full  view  of  the  native  bargainers,  immovable. 
At  last  the  men  began  to  waver,  and  with  a  look 
of  satisfaction  as  he  turned  to  the  members  of 
the  expedition,  but  which  the  contestants  did  not 
see,  the  Egyptian  Government  expert  announced 
that  the  laborers  had  agreed  to  accept  a  contract 
of  eight  piastres  a  day,  with  the  promise  of  a 
holiday  once  a  fortnight  at  which  there  should 
be  given  a  present  of  a  fat-tailed  sheep. 

The  professor  was  a  man  with  a  great  deal 
of  dignity  and  presence,  but  this  was  equaled 
by  the  gravity  and  poise  of  the  leader  of  the  la- 
borers, Ibrahim  Salim.  When  at  last  the  agree- 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  205 

ment  was  made,  the  Arab  drew  a  seal  from  the 
inner  folds  of  his  robe  and  signed  a  contract  for 
his  laborer  gang  with  an  air  that  suggested  the 
signing  of  a  treaty  to  decide  the  destinies  of 
nations. 

With  this  added  number  of  laborers,  the  work 
of  excavation  went  more  rapidly,  and  prizes  be- 
gan to  appear.  On  the  tenth  day,  in  the  pit  which 
was  supervised  by  the  professor,  an  excellent 
skull  of  a  young  Arsinotherium  was  found,  a  curi- 
ous creature  with  four  horns,  two  of  them  huge, 
and  which,  as  Perry  was  told,  is  a  puzzle  to  pale- 
ontologists, for  it  was  the  lord  of  its  age  in  Egypt 
and  yet  its  ancestry  is  quite  unknown.  Four 
days  later  Antoine  had  the  honor  of  unearthing 
the  first  skull  of  a  paleo-mastodon  discovered  by 
the  expedition. 

It  was  at  the  very  close  of  the  next  day's  work 
that  Perry,  overseeing  the  work  of  the  men  in 
the  pit  to  which  he  had  been  assigned,  saw  part 
of  a  skull  exposed.  He  called  away  the  workmen 
to  another  corner  of  the  pit,  for  he  knew  that  only 
two  or  three  minutes  of  the  working  day  remained. 
No  sooner  were  they  gone  than  he  jumped  into 
the  pit  himself  and  began  to  scoop  away  the  sand 
with  his  hands. 


ao6       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Gradually  the  particles  of  sand  began  to  fall 
away,  little  by  little  the  white  gleam  of  bone  be- 
came more  and  more  apparent,  and  a  skull,  such 
as  the  boy  had  never  seen  in  his  life  before, 
seemed  to  stare  through  its  eyeholes  at  him  out 
of  the  reddish  sand  and  gravel  that  had  been  the 
sand  bar  of  that  ancient  river  millions  of  years 
before. 

What  could  the  strange  skull  be! 

Only  the  day  before,  when  Antoine  had  found 
the  paleo-mastodon,  Dr.  Hunt  had  said: 

"  If  only  we  could  find  a  Moeritherium,  now!  " 

Could  this  be  the  Moeritherium? 

Summoning  to  his  help  every  scrap  of  his  knowl- 
edge, Perry  scanned  the  skull  eagerly  for  some- 
thing that  would  seem  to  remind  him  of  an  ele- 
phant. If  only  there  had  been  tusks !  But  there 
were  only  two  large  cutting  teeth.  Still,  no  one 
yet  in  the  expedition  had  found  a  skull  like  the  one 
before  him  and  his  hopes  for  a  Moeritherium 
would  not  down. 

' '  Uncle  George !"  he  cried,  "can  you  come 
here  a  minute?  " 

The  ring  in  his  voice  suggested  a  discovery,  and 
the  professor  hurried  over.  In  the  evening  light 
he  cast  a  look  at  the  protruding  skull  and  leaped 


A  RARE  FOSSIL  FIND  207 

down  in  the  pit  to  make  sure.     Then,  suddenly, 
he  cried: 

"  It  is  a  Moeritherium !    By  the  powers,  Perry, 
you're  the  luck  boy  of  this  expedition!  " 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

THE   VALLEY   OP   FOSSIL   WHALES 

TEIUMPH  beamed  from  every  corner  of  the  boy's 
face  at  dinner  that  evening,  as  the  professor, 
usually  so  subdued,  fairly  gloated  with  delight 
over  the  finding  of  the  Moeritherium  skull.  To- 
gether with  the  paleo-mastodon  skull,  discovered 
only  the  day  before  by  Antoine,  the  principal  ob- 
ject of  the  expedition  was  secured. 

11 1  couldn't  tell  exactly  what  beast  it  was," 
said  Perry,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  "  be- 
cause I  couldn't  see  that  the  skull  looked  anything 
at  all  like  an  elephant's." 

"  You're  right,  it  doesn't,"  his  uncle  agreed. 

16 1  couldn't  see  how  it  was  an  ancestor,  then. 
I  don't  quite  see,  even  yet.  An  elephant  has  tusks 
and  a  trunk.  This  little  Moeritherium  hasn't 
either,  so  far  as  I  can  make  out." 

"  That's  because  the  animal  is  so  far  back  in 
the  line  of  development,"  the  scientist  reminded 
him.  ic  He  isn't  in  a  direct  line,  but  more  like  a 

208 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      209 

first  cousin  of  what  the  ancestral  elephant  must 
have  been,  although  we  haven't  found  any  speci- 
mens of  him  yet.  As  for  the  trunk — well,  it's  true 
there  isn't  any  sign  of  that,  the  eyes  are  too  far 
forward.  But  the  tusk  question  is  interesting. 
Do  you  know,  Perry,  which  are  the  teeth  that  the 
elephant  has  developed  into  tusks?  " 

The  boy  thought  for  a  moment. 

"  No,  Uncle  George,  I  don't,"  he  said.  "  Until 
this  minute  I  never  stopped  to  think  that  an  ele- 
phant tusks  were  teeth." 

"  What  did  you  think  they  were?     Horns?  " 

"  I — I  hadn't  ever  thought,"  stammered  Perry, 
confused.  "  I  just  thought  of  them  as  tusks." 

"  They  are  the  incisors,"  the  scientist  replied. 
"  Now,  in  Moeritherium,  you  can  see  that  the  sec- 
ond incisors  are  developed  both  in  the  upper  and 
lower  jaws." 

He  held  out  the  skull  to  the  boy. 

"  Yes,"  Perry  answered,  "  that's  easy  enough 
to  see." 

"  Now  in  the  skull  of  Paleo-mastodon,  as  I  ex- 
plained to  you  fully  last  night,  there  were  rudi- 
mentary first  incisor  teeth.  You  remember 
that?  " 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  boy. 


aio       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  And  the  elephant  hasn't  any  first  incisors  at 
all." 

"  Oh!  "  exclaimed  Perry,  "I'm  beginning  to 
get  hold  of  the  idea.  The  Moeritherium  shows 
how  the  tusks  started." 

"  In  a  way,  though  not  directly.  Moeritherium 
never  developed  tusks  from  his  teeth.  Now  you 
get  Antoine,  sometime,  to  show  you  the  details 
of  the  teeth  of  a  typical  mammal.  You'll  find  that 
there  ought  to  be  forty-four.  Although  he  had 
little  tusks,  Moeritherium  kept  a  fairly  complete 
set  of  teeth,  while  Paleo-mastodon,  in  order  to  get 
real  solid  tusks,  was  compelled  to  sacrifice  all  his 
incisors  but  four.  You'll  find  that  the  important 
things  in  paleontology  are  teeth  and  feet." 

"  That's  what  I  always  strike  in  books.  Just 
why  is  that,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  Think  a  bit,  and  figure  it  out  for  yourself." 

Perry  stared  at  the  Moeritherium  skull,  and 
tried  to  picture  the  development  of  life  in  primi- 
tive times,  millions  of  years  before  the  first  man 
walked  the  earth. 

"  I  suppose,"  he  said,  after  quite  a  long  pause, 
"  it's  because  the  two  main  things  an  animal  had 
to  do  was  to  eat  and  to  avoid  being  eaten.  Ani- 
mals with  weak  teeth  had  to  give  place  to  animals 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      211 

with  better  teeth  when  the  food  got  harder  to 
chew,  and  animals  that  were  likely  to  be  eaten 
had  to  find  ways  of  escape.  The  ones  with  poor 
feet  were  caught  and  eaten,  the  swift  ones  got 
away." 

"  You  see  the  importance  of  slight  differences 
in  teeth,  then?  "  the  scientist  said.  "  Some  of 
these  days,  when  you  think  that  the  details  of  an 
animaPs  bones  or  teeth  are  dry  learning,  remem- 
ber how  here,  on  the  Libyan  Desert,  you  saw  for 
yourself  the  dawn  of  the  elephant's  tusk  suggested 
in  the  slight  extension  of  the  second  incisor  of  the 
Moeritherium,  or  the  beast  of  Lake  Moeris." 

"  And  were  his  feet  like  elephants'  feet,  too?  " 

"  Yes,  in  a  measure,  but  with  one  great  differ- 
ence." 

"  What  was  that?" 

"  Moeritherium  was  a  marsh  animal,  Paleo- 
mastodon  was  not." 

"  How  can  we  tell,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  By  the  feet.  Then,  the  later  animal  had  a 
trunk  and  the  former  did  not." 

"  How  does  that  show  up?  " 

' '  By  the  length  of  the  legs  and  the  neck.  There 
is  reason  to  think  that  the  legs  of  Moeritherium 
were  fairly  short  and  his  neck  long  enough  to 


212       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

reach  the  ground,  certainly  long  enough,  when 
he  was  standing  in  water,  to  enable  him  to  eat 
marshy  vegetation.  There  is  no  sign  of  a  long 
upper  lip,  like  that  of  a  tapir,  nor  a  trunk  like  that 
of  an  elephant.  Now  in  Paleo-mastodon,  his  legs 
were  longer  and  his  neck  shorter.  Therefore, 
even  if  we  had  no  other  signs,  we  could  be  sure  that 
he  must  have  had  a  trunk. ' ' 

66  Oh,  I  begin  to  see  now,"  said  Perry.  "  If 
an  elephant  had  a  long  neck,  he  wouldn't  need  a 
trunk.  A  trunk  is  a  scheme  used  by  a  long-legged 
and  short-necked  animal  to  get  food  to  its  mouth. 
But  I  always  thought  a  tapir  was  on  the  way  to 
an  elephant  because  of  the  long  upper  lip." 

"  And  now  you  see  that  the  upper  lip  of  the 
tapir  and  the  trunk  of  the  elephant  are  the  re- 
sult of  the  same  principle  operating  on  two  en- 
tirely different  kinds  of  animals,  for  if  you  just 
looked  once  at  the  feet  of  a  tapir  and  at  those  of 
an  elephant  you'd  never  make  the  mistake  of  sup- 
posing them  to  be  even  distantly  related.  The 
teeth  are  different,  too,  everything's  different,  ex- 
cept the  lengthening  of  the  lip.  It  never  occurred 
to  you  to  think  that  an  ostrich  and  a  giraffe  were 
related  because  they  both  have  long  necks  ?  ' ' 

11  Of  course  not." 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      213 

"  Or  a  hump-backed  salmon  and  a  camel  be- 
cause of  the  hump?  " 

Perry  laughed. 

"  Then  don't  get  led  astray  by  superficial  re- 
semblances. Eemember  the  importance  of  the 
feet  as  a  means  of  telling  on  what  kind  of  soil  an 
animal  lived,  and  the  teeth  in  telling  what  kind 
of  food  he  ate,  and  that  will  help  you  more  in 
paleontology  than  anything  I  know.  You'll  trace 
some  queer  relationships  by  feet  and  teeth,  Perry, 
between  pig  and  hippopotamus  for  example,  and 
between  goats  and  oxen. 

"  I  suppose  that  every  man  thinks  his  own  line 
is  the  best,  but  I  tell  you,  my  boy,  I've  never  found 
anything  one-half  so  interesting  as  the  piecing 
together,  bit  by  bit,  bone  by  bone,  of  a  life  that 
was  lived  a  million  years  ago,  on  a  world  on  which 
no  human  eye  has  ever  looked.  Books  of  travel 
will  give  you  pictures,  Perry,  of  things  that  there 
are  in  this  world  only  a  few  hours '  or  a  few  days ' 
journey  away,  but  the  books  of  travel  that  you 
and  I  are  reading,  my  boy,  will  give  pictures  of 
scenes  that  no  railway  train  can  reach,  and  will 
reveal  oceans  that  no  steamship  or  sailing  craft 


can  cross." 


That  evening  when  they  were  sitting  around 


2i4       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

the  tent,  vainly  trying  to  keep  away  the  flies  that 
buzzed  perpetually  around  their  heads,  Perry 
asked  suddenly: 

"  Uncle  George,  how  far  back  in  geology  did 
flies  begin?  " 

11  Carboniferous  Period,"  the  professor  an- 
swered. "  We  find  their  wings  in  the  seams  of 
coal,  but  probably  early  forms  lived  long  before 
that.  Those  flies,  however,  belonged  to  the  group 
that  have  an  imperfect  metamorphosis,  such  as  the 
dragon-flies  and  cockroaches.  Cockroaches,  you 
know,  Perry,  are  very  ancient.  But  the  house-fly, 
the  kind  that  seems  to  be  annoying  you,  my  boy, 
isn't  so  very  old,  certainly  not  much  before  the 
middle  of  the  Age  of  Reptiles." 

"  I  wish  their  teeth  or  feet  or  something  hadn't 
developed  properly,"  the  boy  replied  savagely, 
swatting  at  one  that  persisted  in  trying  to  settle 
on  his  nose.  "  Something  ought  to  happen  to 
make  them  die  out." 

"  Not  much  chance,  I'm  afraid,"  the  scientist  re- 
sponded wearily,  "  the  fly  isn't  particularly  likely 
to  die  out  soon.  He  squats  on  a  baking  rock  in  the 
equator  and  he  perches  on  an  ice-floe  in  the  Arctic 
Circle.  There's  not  an  inhabited  island — no  mat- 
ter how  far  from  all  other  land,  that  hasn't  got 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      215 

some  kind  of  a  fly  on  it.  He's  been  on  the  job 
for  fourteen  million  years,  and  there  are  over  two 
hundred  thousand  different  species  of  fly  still.  I 
believe  that  when  the  last  man  lies  down  for  his 
last  sleep  on  some  summer  evening,  there  will  be 
a  fly  buzzing  around  to  settle  on  his  nose." 

"  One  wouldn't  think  there  was  much  attraction 
to  bring  flies  out  to  this  desert  place,"  put  in 
Perry,  "  but  they're  like  a  plague  here  now." 

"  Flies  were  one  of  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt, 
weren't  they,"  suggested  Antoine,  "  and  I  sup- 
pose they  will  plague  Egypt  to  the  end  of  time." 

"  There  are  no  mosquitoes  here,  at  least," 
Perry's  uncle  reminded  him,  "  not  unless  you 
bring  some  up  from  Birket-el-Qurun.  There  are 
plenty  of  them  around  the  lake.  But  as  long  as 
the  only  water  we  get  is  what  is  carried  here  in 
fantasses  by  the  camels,  we're  safe  from  mosqui- 
toes, because,  as  you  know,  those  pesky  little  in- 
sects have  got  to  have  stagnant  water  in  which  to 
breed." 

"  I'd  almost  be  willing  to  swap  this  swarm  of 
flies  for  a  few  mosquitoes,"  declared  the  boy,  wav- 
ing his  arms  around  him  frantically.  "  They're 
in  the  sleeping-tent;  they're  everywhere." 

"  Well,  my  boy,"  his  uncle  said,  "if  you're  plan- 


216       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

ning  to  go  with  me  to  Zeuglodon  Valley  to-mor- 
row, you'd  better  cheat  the  flies  and  take  a  good 
long  sleep.  You  think  your  backbone — over  which 
you  made  such  a  howl — is  sufficiently  straightened 
up  to  tackle  a  long  camel-back  ride?  " 

"  It's  a  little  sore  still,  even  after  two  weeks' 
rest,"  the  boy  admitted  honestly,  "  but  I'd  want 
to  go  if  it  were  twice  as  sore." 

"  No  use  reasoning  with  a  lad  when  he's  set," 
his  uncle  commented,  shrugging  his  shoulders. 
1 1  All  right,  then,  be  ready  early  in  the  morning. ' ' 

An  hour  after  sunrise  the  party  of  three  started 
off,  Dr.  Hunt,  Perry  and  the  chief  camel-driver, 
with  two  camels  carrying  water  and  provisions. 
It  was  not  until  the  party  was  well  on  its  way 
that  Perry  realized  that  this  was  no  idle  and  easy 
jaunt.  The  best  and  the  fastest  camels  had  been 
picked  for  the  trip.  Seventy-six  miles  had  to  be 
covered,  thirty-eight  each  way,  and  there  was 
nothing  remotely  resembling  a  trail. 

By  lunch-time  the  party  had  descended  over  the 
various  benches  and  declivities  to  the  level  of  the 
lake  of  Birket-el-Qurun  and  the  noon-day  halt  was 
made  near  the  western  border  of  the  lake.  Bough 
stony  country  with  numerous  sand  dunes  then  con- 
fronted the  party.  Traveling  at  forced  speed,  one 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      217 

of  the  camels  dropped  and  had  to  be  sent  back. 
This  reduced  the  amount  of  water  that  could  be 
carried  on  the  trip  and  made  it  necessary  to  put 
every  one  on  short  rations.  Somehow  the  very 
knowledge  that  the  supply  of  water  was  scant 
seemed  to  make  Perry  all  the  thirstier.  His 
tongue  got  thick  and  seemed  to  fill  up  the  whole 
of  his  mouth.  As  the  afternoon  wore  on,  the  tor- 
ment from  thirst  became  so  great  that  the  lad  ac- 
tually forgot  the  pain  in  his  back,  due  to  the  rack- 
ing, staggering  gait  of  the  camel.  The  slightly 
cooler  air  of  evening  helped  him  a  little,  but  his 
tongue  was  far  too  swollen  for  him  to  be  able  to 
speak  clearly  when  at  last  camp  was  pitched  for 
the  night  on  a  rock  waste  flecked  with  patches  of 
sand. 

"  How  do  you  feel,  Perry?  "  said  his  uncle. 

"  Bully!  "  answered  the  boy. 

"  Don't  want  to  take  up  camel-driving  as  a  pro- 
fession, eh?  " 

"  Not  quite,  Uncle  George,"  was  the  response. 
"  Still,  this  isn't  a  fair  sample  of  a  trip,  is  it? 
It's  harder  than  most  caravan  routes,  surely." 

"  Not  to  a  true  son  of  the  desert.  Michawi, 
there,  seems  perfectly  content.  So  far  as  I'm 
concerned,  I'm  willing  to  admit  that  it's  about  all 


218       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

I  care  for  and  I  think  the  natives  were  wise  to 
name  this  region  what  they  did." 

"  What  is  its  name?  " 

"  The  Gar  el  Gehannem,  or,  as  we  should  call 
it  in  the  States,  Hell  Butte." 

"  Have  we  much  more  of  it?  " 

"  The  worst  is  still  ahead,  Michawi  says.  But 
we'll  strike  the  valley  before  noon." 

An  hour's  travel  the  next  day  brought  them  to 
what  was  undoubtedly  "  the  worst  of  it."  The 
entrance  to  the  valley  was  blocked  with  high, 
sharp-ridged  dunes,  of  a  loose  shifting  sand. 
Even  the  camels  with  their  soft  cushiony  feet  had 
much  ado  to  keep  from  sinking  deeply  into  it,  and 
as  there  was  no  possibility  of  getting  them  over 
with  the  riders  remaining  in  the  saddle,  Perry 
had  to  get  off  and  lead  his  beast  over  the  ridges. 
Into  the  blistering  sand  he  sank,  even  more  deeply 
than  the  camel.  There  was  a  light  but  hot  wind 
blowing,  and  as  this  breeze  topped  the  crest,  it 
blew  what  might  almost  be  called  a  thin  spindrift 
of  sun-heated  sand  into  the  faces  of  the  travelers. 
The  effect  was  like  that  of  putting  one's  face  on 
a  heated  emery  wheel.  The  camels  didn't  like  it, 
either,  and  said  so,  their  harsh  bubbling  roar  be- 
ing most  rasping  to  the  temper. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      219 

"  Keeping  up  all  right,  lad?  "  his  uncle  asked 
him  once,  after  they  had  crossed  a  particularly 
vicious  bit. 

"  Oh,  sure,  I'm  all  right, "  Perry  answered 
cheerily.  "  But  I  think  they  hit  it  off  when  they 
named  this  place." 

At  a  few  moments  after  eleven  o  'clock,  the  party 
topped  the  last  of  the  ridges  and  looked  down  into 
Zeuglodon  Valley  below. 

Bones,  bones  everywhere. 

Skull,  ribs,  and  the  backbones  of  the  Zeuglodons 
or  primitive  whales  lay  scattered  on  every  side. 
Clear  to  the  horizon,  the  gleam  of  white  here  and 
there  amid  the  sun-burned  rocks  and  patches  of 
sand,  told  of  the  world's  greatest  burying  place 
of  fossil  whales.  Ten  thousand  monsters  lay 
around  them.  A  day's  search  would  have  pro- 
duced enough  skeletons  to  supply  all  the  museums 
of  all  the  countries  in  the  world. 

"  The  sea  must  have  swarmed  with  Zeuglo- 
dons, Uncle  George,"  said  Perry,  breaking  silence 
when  at  last  the  sand-dunes  were  crossed  and  they 
were  in  the  famous  valley  itself. 

"Apparently  it  did,"  was  the  reply,  "  for 
Zeuglodons  had  a  wide  distribution.  Thousands 
of  specimens  have  been  found  in  our  Southern 


220       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

States,  showing  that,  in  those  times,  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  was  a  great  deal  larger  than  it  is  to-day. 
So  thickly  scattered  were  these  bones  on  southern 
farms  that  foundations — for  example  like  those 
of  corn  cribs — have  been  made  of  the  vertebras 
of  Zeuglodons." 

"  They  must  have  been  whacking  big,"  said 
Perry,  looking  at  the  section  of  a  backbone  that 
protruded  above  the  ground.  "  Bigger  than  any- 
thing we've  got  to-day. " 

"  No,  not  as  big  as  whales, "  the  scientist  cor- 
rected him.  "  Few  Zeuglodons  were  more  than 
fifty  feet  long." 

"  Still,  fifty  feet  isn't  bad." 

"  Fifty  feet  is  a  good  length,"  the  professor 
agreed.  "  And  Zeuglodon  was  a  queer-looking 
beast.  It's  hard  to  realize  that  he  could  have  had 
so  large  a  proportion  of  tail  to  so  small  a  body 
and  head.  The  Zeuglodon 's  head  was  only  about 
four  feet  long,  the  body  wasn't  over  ten,  and  it 
lugged  forty  feet  of  tail  behind." 

"  Eegular  sea-serpent,"  commented  the  boy. 
' '  I  don't  suppose  the  tail  was  very  big  through?  ' 

"  Even  the  body  was  only  about  seven  feet 
thick,"  the  scientist  replied.  "  With  those  sharp 
teeth,"  he  stopped  and  picked  one  from  the 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      221 

ground,  "yoke-shaped,  as  you  see;  with  power- 
ful paddles  like  those  of  a  fur  seal  and  with  that 
tremendous  tail,  Zeuglodon  must  have  been  able 
to  get  around  pretty  lively." 

"  Mammal,  of  course?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  How  about  its  hind  feet,  then?  "  asked  the 
boy.  "  I  know  the  whales  have  lost  theirs;  did 
their  great-great-great-grandfather  who  left  his 
bones  here  have  any  hind  legs?  " 

"  He  did,"  said  the  scientist,  "  but  they  were 
rudimentary  and  he  kept  them  tucked  away  under 
his  skin.  Some  skeletons  show  them  plainly.  In 
the  still  earlier  form,  Prozeuglodon,  these  rudi- 
mentary forms  are  a  little  more  distinct." 

"  Why  do  you  suppose  the  Zeuglodons  died 
out?  "  queried  the  lad. 

"  Hard  to  say,"  his  uncle  replied;  "  possibly  be- 
cause they  had  too  much  tail  for  the  head.  So 
big  a  tail  needed  a  lot  of  feeding  and  so  small  a 
head  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  dine  off  small 
fish.  He  may  have  dived  deep  for  squid,  the  way 
whales  do,  but,  even  so,  the  Zeuglodons  seem  to 
have  been  driven  out  by  the  fossil  sharks." 

"  Were  they  bigger  than  modern  sharks?  " 

"  They    were,"    answered    his    uncle    dryly. 


222       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

' i  One  of  these  sharks,  who  has  been  christened  the 
Carchadodon  Megalodon,  or  the  great-toothed 
shark,  may  have  been  over  a  hundred  feet  long, 
and  certainly  was  not  less  than  seventy-five,  and 
his  teeth  were  three  times  as  big  and  as  long  as 
the  teeth  of  the  biggest  man-eating  shark  in  the 
seas  to-day.  They  had  a  few  score  of  these  teeth 
each." 

"  I  should  think  they  would  have  made  it  hot 
for  the  Zeuglodons." 

"  They  probably  did.  Those  shark  teeth  are 
found  everywhere.  They  must  have  made  the  seas 
a  terror  during  Miocene  times." 

"  And  then  what  happened?  " 

"  Who  knows?  Probably,  like  the  Kilkenny 
cats,  after  they  had  eaten  everything  else  in  sight 
they  started  to  eat  each  other  up,  and  either  were 
eaten  or  perished  for  lack  of  food.  At  least  it  is 
sure  that  after  the  Miocene  sharks  came  on  the 
scene  the  Zeuglodons  disappeared.  And  their 
greatest  burying-ground  is  here." 

"  I'll  take  a  bunch  of  their  teeth  home,"  said 
Perry,  filling  his  pockets,  "  but  what  are  you  go- 
ing to  do  about  full-sized  specimens,  Uncle 
George?  " 

"  I  shall  not  try  to  take  any,"  the  scientist  an- 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      223 

swered  him.  "  This  is  a  difficult  place  from  which 
to  transport  a  large  complete  skeleton.  There  is 
no  need.  The  National  Museum  at  Washington 
has  a  very  perfect  example  of  Zeuglodon.  We  've 
already  got  a  few  score  tons  of  fossil  material  im- 
bedded in  plaster  and  strongly  boxed  for  shipment 
at  the  camp,  and  I  hardly  feel  like  bringing  a  cara- 
van here  to  try  to  transport  an  entire  Zeuglodon 
away.  I  shall  be  satisfied  to  make  sure  that  there 
is  not  some  species  showing  up  above  the  ground, 
heretofore  unknown  to  science." 

For  three  long  hours  in  the  very  midmost  heat 
of  the  day,  in  that  broiling  valley,  the  scientist  and 
his  young  follower  worked  hard  examining  the 
thousands  of  skeletons  that  littered  the  expanse, 
and  then  Dr.  Hunt  gave  the  word  to  return. 
Perry  was  tired,  the  heat  had  made  him  dizzy, 
and  his  back  felt  as  if  he  had  a  sore  on  each  and 
every  vertebra,  but  his  pockets  were  full  of  Zeu- 
glodon teeth,  and  he  gloated  over  the  fact  that  he 
had  been  one  of  the  very  few  people  in  the  world 
to  visit  the  great  Zeuglodon  Valley  where  the 
bones  of  ancestral  whales  lie  buried,  and  he  was 
well  content.  Exactly  three  hours  after  the  halt, 
the  party  started  home  for  the  camp. 

Back  they  went  over  those  sand  dunes,  with  the 


224       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

camels  slipping  and  sprawling  in  every  direction, 
back  against  the  hot  flying  sand ;  back  with  the  per- 
spiration oozing  at  every  pore  and  the  tongue  so 
parched  that  it  licked  up  greedily  such  sweat  as 
ran  into  the  corners  of  the  mouth;  back  with  the 
lungs  aching  and  the  breath  coming  in  quick,  short 
gasps;  back  through  the  hot  afternoon  and  until 
the  great  globe  of  fire  dipped  below  the  horizon, 
and  darkness  and  coolness  had  come.  On,  then, 
still  over  the  rough  and  stony  approach  to  the 
Gar  el  Gehannem,  or  Hell  Butte,  using  a  slightly 
different  route,  until  at  last  came  camp,  near  the 
village  of  Qasr  Qurun,  where  water,  indifferent 
but  possible  to  drink,  was  to  be  had. 

A  score  of  village  dogs  barked  as  though  each 
had  a  score  of  throats,  yowled  in  loud  welcome, 
and  bayed  the  whole  night  through.  It  mattered 
little  to  Perry.  He  was  tired  to  exhaustion,  and 
lay  asleep  completely  happy,  while  in  the  pockets 
of  the  coat  that  lay  beside  him  in  the  tent,  were  a 
couple  of  dozen  Zeuglodon  teeth,  that  he  had 
brought  from  Zeuglodon  Valley  with  his  own 
hands. 

The  next  day  saw  the  party  climbing  homewards, 
up  again  to  the  raised  beaches  far  above  the  an- 
cient lake,  up  past  the  level  where  the  Eosiren 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      225 

was  found,  up  past  the  level  of  the  ancient  temple, 
up  the  great  cliffs  which  marked  the  ages  during 
which  the  sea  had  rolled  over  them,  up  to  the  levels 
of  the  ancient  river  deposits  and  then  over  the 
long  miles  to  where  the  peaked  outline  of  the  dis- 
tant tents  held  out  the  promise  of  a  welcome.  Yet 
it  was  the  evening  of  the  third  day  before  they 
reached  it,  fifty-eight  hours  since  they  had  left  the 
camp,  of  which  thirty  hours  had  actually  been 
spent  on  camel-back. 

"  You're  a  seasoned  traveler  now,  Perry,"  his 
uncle  said,  as  the  camel  sank  to  its  knees  and  the 
boy  clambered  painfully  out  of  the  saddle, 
"  seventy-five  miles  in  fifty-eight  hours  is  quite  a 
feat." 

"  It  was  great,"  said  Perry,  "  and  I  wouldn't 
have  missed  it  for  the  world.  What's  a  little  ache 
in  one's  bones  compared  to  doing  a  stunt  like 
that!" 

"  After  the  work  comes  the  fun,"  put  in  An- 
toine.  Then,  turning  to  the  leader  of  the  expedi- 
tion, he  continued: 

"  Dr.  Hunt,  Mahmud  Abd-el-Baqui,  one  of  the 
chief  Arab  Sheikhs,  is  in  the  neighborhood.  He 
sent  a  messenger  this  morning  and  when  I  told 
him  that  you  were  expected  home  to-night,  he  said 


226       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

that  he  would  call.  Mr.  Wyr  says  that  he  is  quite 
an  important  chieftain  and  that  we  ought  to  re- 
ceive him  with  some  ceremony." 

"  I  feel  more  inclined  for  a  rest  than  for  cere- 
mony," the  scientist  replied  frankly,  "  but  of 
course  we'll  do  whatever  is  the  proper  thing  on 
such  occasions.  Will  you  do  me  the  favor  of  giv- 
ing me  your  advice,  Mr.  Wyr?  I  am  quite  unin- 
formed as  to  the  procedure  in  such  matters  in 
Egypt." 

The  Government  Survey  expert  smiled. 

"  I  jolly  well  knew  you'd  want  me  to  look  after 
such  questions  in  your  absence,"  he  answered, 
"  and  I've  made  arrangements  for  a  feast." 

' '  Do  you  suppose  he  will  bring  a  party,  then  I  ' ' 

"Bather!"  the  other  answered.  "  Mahmud 
Abd-el-Baqui  wouldn't  stir  without  an  armed  es- 
cort. He's  a  Bedouin,  remember." 

"  One  of  the  chaps  who  rob  caravans?  "  queried 
Perry  excitedly. 

"  I  haven't  a  doubt  in  the  world,"  said  the  Eng- 
lishman, smiling,  "  that  the  very  gentleman  who 
is  coming  to  see  you  has  plundered  many  a  caravan 
in  times  past." 

"  Then  he's  a  real  robber  chief!  " 

"  I  fancy  he  wouldn't  call  it  robbery,"  was  the 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      227 

reply.  "  I  was  talking  with  one  of  the  most  noted 
Bedouins  once,  when  we  were  on  a  punitive  ex- 
pedition into  the  desert,  and  he  said  that  the  oc- 
casional plundering  of  a  caravan  was  just  the 
same  as  the  actions  of  civilized  nations  in  taking 
customs  duties  on  all  cargoes  coming  into  their 
ports.  He  jolly  well  took  the  ground  that  the 
Sahara  belonged  to  the  wandering  tribes  and  that 
they  had  a  right  to  levy  tribute. " 

"  There's  something  in  that  idea,"  admitted  the 
boy.  "  Is  that  why  the  chief  never  travels  with- 
out an  escort?  " 

"  Not  only  that,  but  one  Bedouin  tribe  is  very 
often  at  war  with  the  other.  See,  Perry,  here 
they  come  now!  "  He  pointed  with  his  finger. 
"  Wouldn't  you  rather  that  they  came  in  peace 
than  in  war?  " 

The  boy  looked  over  the  wide  ledge  and  there, 
sharply  outlined  against  the  evening  sky,  was  a 
small  band  of  horsemen,  all  armed  with  lances 
and  dashing  along  at  a  speed  which  could  be  com- 
pared to  nothing  but  a  charge.  Long  white  cot- 
ton mantles  covered  the  Arab  horsemen,  each  had 
a  striped  cloak  made  of  camel's  hair  cloth  floating 
behind  him  in  the  wind,  and  a  yellow  and  black 
striped  handkerchief,  folded  somewhat  turban- 


228       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

wise  over  their  heads.  The  chief  was  accompanied 
by  two  of  his  brothers  and  the  whole  party  came 
on  at  a  full  gallop. 

It  seemed  as  though  they  were  going  to  charge 
straight  through  the  tents,  and  Perry  prepared 
to  jump.  But  he  kept  his  eye  on  the  Survey  ex- 
pert, and  seeing  that  Wyr  remained  motionless, 
the  boy  did  not  stir.  The  Bedouins  were  within 
ten  feet  of  the  party  when  they  halted  suddenly, 
so  suddenly  that  the  boy  expected  to  see  the  fine- 
drawn legs  of  the  Arab  horses  snap  under  the  sud- 
den shock.  Such  magnificent  horses  the  boy  had 
never  seen. 

With  the  Egyptian  Survey  expert  as  translator, 
greetings  were  exchanged,  and  then  the  Sheikh 
called  certain  of  his  escort  to  come  up  with  a  sheep 
and  some  turkeys,  which  were  formally  presented 
to  "El  Mudir."  In  return,  the  Arabs  were  in- 
vited to  a  banquet,  which  was  prolonged  far  into 
the  night. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation,  El  Mudir 
happened  to  speak  in  terms  of  praise  of  the  Arab 
horses,  and  the  next  morning,  to  the  surprise  of 
every  one  in  the  camp,  three  were  sent  as  a  gift, 
with  the  Sheikh's  compliments. 

"  Antoine,"  said  Perry  to  his  friend  later  in 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

CLIMBING  TO  THE  FOSSILS. 

Advance  members  of  the  Museum  expedition  arriving  at  one  of  the 

broad  "benches,"  where  three-million-year-old 

bones  were  found. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

FINDING  A  SEA-COW 
A  broad  bench  in  the  Fayum,  Egypt,  with- V  fossil  exposed.    ^The  top  of 
the  butte  in  the  distance  is  the  level  oi  a  ldtJei>  geolO^tt  p,er>Qd,    , 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      229 

the  day,  for  it  was  one  of  the  fortnightly  camp 
holidays,  "  I've  never  been  up  on  the  level  of  the 
desert.  Let's  go!  " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  his  friend  answered,  and  soon  after 
breakfast  the  600-foot  climb  began.  As  they 
climbed  higher  and  higher,  the  whole  saucer-like 
depression  of  the  Fayum  spread  before  them,  and 
the  bed  of  the  old  Lake  Moeris  could  be  clearly 
seen.  Perry  realized  to  the  full  why  this,  of  all 
places  on  the  desert,  should  be  the  point  for  fos- 
sil-finding, for  six  hundred  feet  of  modern  de- 
posits lay  above  the  exposed  strata  in  which  the 
fossils  lay.  At  last,  the  final  bench  was  sur- 
mounted, and  Perry  looked  over  the  blackened 
pebbly  waste.  In  spite  of  his  former  experience, 
the  trip  over  the  dunes  to  Gar  el  Gehannem  had 
made  him  think  that  the  heart  of  the  desert  might 
really  prove  to  be  the  mass  of  billowing  sand  fa- 
miliar to  him  in  pictures,  and  he  was  again  dis- 
appointed. In  the  far  distance,  however,  a  golden 
light  glinted  across  the  wind-swept  pebbled  waste. 

"  Are  there  sand  dunes  over  toward  the  hori- 
zon, Antoine?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  That  is  a  fear- 
ful place.  How  many  miles  of  sand  dunes  it  is, 
no  one  knows. " 


230       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  You  mean  it  has  never  yet  been  crossed?  " 
cried  the  boy,  with  a  sudden  hope  that  there  might 
be  a  piece  of  exploration  work  that  sometime 
he  might  do. 

"  It  has  been  crossed  many  times  by  caravans, 
but  only  from  north  to  south.  There  is  an  oasis 
at  Kufra  and  camel  trains  reach  there  from  the 
north  and  from  the  hills  to  the  south — from  east 
to  west,  never.  No  one  has  dared  that  journey. " 

"  But  from  here,  Antoine;  if  a  chap  should  try 
to  go  straight  across  there  from  here?  " 

"  Over  the  Libyan  Desert?  "  The  other  shook 
his  head.  "  Never!  Most  of  the  Sahara  is  stone 
and  rock,  as  here,  but  the  Libyan  Desert  is  sand, 
sand  like  the  pictures  you  see  of  the  desert,  dunes 
from  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet  high,  no  water,  no 
life,  no  vegetation.  It  is  a  waste  as  large  as 
France  and  Germany  together,  where  not  a  blade 
of  grass  grows,  and  where  the  only  living  things 
are  creatures  like  the  jerboas  that  have  learned 
to  do  with  so  little  water  that  a  really  good  drink 
might  kill  them,  and  even  they  only  live  on  the 
edges  of  that  desert.  No,  Perry,  you  cannot  ex- 
plore that  place,  there  would  be  no  way  to  live." 

The  boy  looked  longingly  at  the  southwestern 
horizon. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      231 

"  I'd  awfully  like  to  try,"  he  said. 

A  slight  and  very  hot  puff  of  wind  reached  them, 
and,  shading  his  eyes,  Antoine  looked  anxiously  at 
the  distant  dune  hills.  A  thin  curl  of  dust  was 
rising  from  them. 

"  The  sand  is  blowing,"  he  said  warningly; 
"  we'll  go  back." 

It  was  a  false  alarm,  however,  for  the  wind 
died  down,  and  before  Antoine  and  Perry  reached 
the  camp  again,  the  slight  orange  light  that  had 
overspread  the  sky  had  died  away.  The  boy's 
uncle  greeted  him  with  relief. 

"  Glad  to  have  you  back,"  he  said,  "  I  thought 
we  were  going  to  have  a  sand-storm,  and  that's 
a  thing  it's  best  not  to  be  compelled  to  face. 
We've  escaped  so  far;  I  hope  our  luck  holds." 

To  himself  Perry  thought  differently,  he  felt 
that  he  would  not  have  had  a  real  taste  of  the 
desert  unless  he  had  a  chance  to  see  one  of  the 
sand-storms  of  the  Sahara,  but,  as  the  time  drew 
near  when  the  expedition  was  scheduled  to  return, 
he  almost  lost  hope. 

The  very  week  before  the  day  set  for  leaving, 
Perry's  laborers  unearthed  the  skull  of  a  second 
Arsinotherium,  a  young  bull,  that  must  have  stood 
nearly  six  feet  at  the  shoulders,  carrying  four 


232       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

horns,  one  pair  a  foot  in  diameter  at  the  base  and 
three  feet  long. 

"  Must  have  had  some  neck-muscles  to  carry 
those  horns,"  exclaimed  Perry,  gloating  over  his 
find,  and  watching  the  long  and  difficult  3  oh  of 
packing  the  bones  in  plaster  and  huge  wooden 
cases  so  that  they  might  be  loaded  on  camels  and 
so  that  they  might  withstand  transhipment  across 
the  sea. 

"  Not  only  to  carry  them,  but  to  use  them," 
commented  his  uncle.  * '  Even  Arsinotherium,  big 
as  he  was,  didn't  have  everything  his  own  way. 
There  were  Creodonts,  such  as  the  Pterodon,  to 
worry  him.  They  traveled  in  packs  like  jackals 
and  the  sharpest  horns  would  be  none  too  sharp 
for  defense  against  a  pack  of  those." 

"  Were  they  bigger  than  jackals,  Uncle 
George?  " 

"  Yes,  a  little.  But  of  course  the  biggest  of 
the  Creodonts  were  not  as  large  as  the  great  '  sa- 
bre-tooth '  tigers  of  America  and  of  Europe. 
Those  are  not  found  in  this  ancient  African  fauna. 
But  you'll  have  a  chance  to  get  acquainted  with 
the  sabre-tooths,  Perry,  when  you  come  to  dc  fos- 
sil-work in  the  States.  There's  no  lack  of  fossil 
beds  there." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  •>•>    •» 

THE  FOUR-HORNED  GIANTS  AT  BAY.    *    ' 

The  rhinoceros-like  Arsinotheres  of  Egypt  in  the  Eocene  Period, 
attacked  by  a  pack  of  hyena-like  Pterodons. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      233 

"  I  hate  to  leave  here,  Uncle  George,"  said  the 
boy,  looking  around  him  regretfully,  "  it's  all 
been  so  jolly  and  everything  has  seemed  so  new. 
But,"  he  added,  with  the  action  of  brushing  in- 
sects away  from  his  eyes  which  had  become  habit- 
ual after  the  weeks  spent  on  the  edge  of  the  desert, 
"  I  admit  I'll  be  glad  to  get  away  from  the  flies." 

Two  days  later,  the  caravan  was  once  more 
upon  the  move.  Back  again  over  the  trail  to 
Tamia  they  went,  passing  by  the  ruined  temple 
of  Qasr  el  Sagha,  seeing  the  ruins  of  Dine  in 
the  distance;  not  far  from  the  place  where  Perry 
had  found  the  Eosiren,  and  on  through  the  little 
village  of  Kom  Mushim,  a  mere  cluster  of  huts 
on  the  edge  of  an  ancient  Egyptian  city.  Thence 
through  fields  of  roses,  from  which  the  famous 
attar  of  roses  is  made,  the  camels  passed  and  on 
to  the  headquarters  of  the  expedition  at  Tamia, 
where  an  Arab  entertainment  was  given  by  the 
Mamour  of  the  district  in  honor  of  the  expedition. 

Next  day  the  homeward  journey  was  begun. 
Up  through  the  Fayum  hollow,  again,  the  camels 
climbed  and  out  on  the  desert  beyond.  Not  skirt- 
ing the  edge  of  the  Nile  this  time,  but  striking 
boldly  over  the  waste,  Michawi  led  the  caravan, 
and  the  noon  halt  came  in  the  open  blaze  of  the 


234       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

sun,  the  pyramids  of  Ghizeh  showing  faintly  in 
the  distance. 

The  party  had  hardly  traveled  more  than  an 
hour's  journey  after  the  halt,  when  a  queer  hot 
whiff  of  air  reached  Perry's  nostrils.  He  remem- 
bered the  smoking  sands  that  he  had  seen  from 
the  crest  of  the  cliff  above  the  camp,  when  look- 
ing over  the  Libyan  desert,  and  glanced  over  his 
shoulder.  The  camel  drivers  had  noted  it,  too,  but 
there  was  no  gain  in  urging  the  camels  onwards, 
even  if  the  animals  could  have  been  persuaded, 
safety  was  too  far  away. 

In  front  of  them  was  a  line  of  low  sand-dunes, 
and  before  they  reached  this,  Michawi  halted  the 
caravan.  The  camels  knelt  down,  laid  their  necks 
along  the  ground  and  closed  their  nostrils  with  the 
special  protection  Nature  has  given  them.  Every 
one  dismounted,  and  the  Arabs  threw  themselves 
upon  the  stony  ground,  to  leeward  of  their  camels, 
covering  their  faces  with  their  garments. 

"  Lie  down,  Perry,"  said  his  uncle,  who  was 
following  the  Arabs,  "  you  can't  stand  up  and 
defy  a  Sahara  sand-storm  that  way!  " 

But  the  boy  wanted  to  see  all  that  there  was  to 
see,  and  stood  upright,  facing  the  quarter  from 
which  the  storm  was  coming.  Imperceptibly  the 


THE  VALLEY  OF  WHALES      235 

wind  seemed  to  grow  hotter  and  still  more  hot,  and 
the  fine  particles  of  sand  tingled  against  the  lad's 
face.  The  sky  slowly  turned  gray  with  a  tint  of 
orange-color,  but  as  yet  the  breeze  was  not  strong. 
A  moaning  sound  was  in  the  air,  very  faint,  like 
the  whine  of  the  sea  in  a  shell. 

Then,  without  the  slightest  warning,  with  a 
screech  the  sand-storm  struck.  Perry  went  down 
like  a  nine-pin  and  rolled  over  and  over,  as  a  tum- 
ble weed  rolls  upon  the  prairies,  until  he  fetched 
up  against  one  of  the  kneeling  baggage  camels. 
To  the  screech  of  the  storm  overhead  was  added  a 
deep  vibrant  tone  from  the  sand-dunes  ahead. 
Perry  remembered  that  Mr.  Wyr  had  told  him  that 
in  a  sand-storm  all  the  dunes  begin  to  move,  and 
he  knew  the  noise  was  caused  by  the  rapid  action 
of  the  particles  of  sand  grinding  over  each  other. 

The  wind  was  terrifically  hot.  Sand  was  in  the 
boy's  eyes,  his  nose  was  so  full  of  sand  that  he 
could  not  breathe  through  it,  and  he  scarcely  dared 
to  open  his  mouth  for  fear  that  he  would  choke. 
Following  the  Arabs,  he  grabbed  his  linen  pocket- 
handkerchief,  and  breathed  through  the  folds  of 
it.  In  an  instant  he  felt  better.  He  was  breath- 
ing air  that  was  not  full  of  the  particles  of  sand. 
But,  with  his  nostrils  choked  and  with  the  air 


236       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

coming  but  slowly  through  the  linen,  lie  felt  that 
he  would  burst. 

Once  he  took  away  the  handkerchief  to  get  a 
deep  breath,  but  as  soon  as  he  began  to  inhale,  he 
stopped.  The  air  felt  as  though  it  were  full  of 
needles  and  pricked  at  his  lungs  like  living  fire. 
Straightway  he  put  the  linen  back,  almost  to  suffo- 
cate again. 

Then — silence. 

The  Arabs  rose  from  the  ground,  the  camels 
opened  their  nostrils,  and  in  the  second  it  took 
for  Perry  to  get  on  his  feet  again,  the  storm  was 
gone,  gone  so  absolutely  that  there  was  not  a  trace 
of  it  on  the  horizon.  Only,  in  the  distance,  the 
peaks  of  the  Pyramids  of  Ghizeh  which  marked  the 
end  of  the  Egyptian  expedition,  glinted  nearer 
than  before. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    MAKCH    OF   THE   MASTODONS 

ALMOST  two  years  to  a  day  from  the  time  that 
the  sand-storm  struck  the  caravan  on  its  way  home 
from  Ghizeh,  Mr.  Hunt,  the  old  merchant,  looked 
up  from  his  morning  mail  at  the  breakfast  table 
and  said  to  his  son : 

"  Perry,  your  Uncle  George  is  back  from  Pa- 
tagonia. He  writes  me  from  Washington  that  he 
has  had  a  marvelous  trip  in  a  long  search  for 
a  still-living  specimen  of  the  giant  ground-sloth 
and  that  he  will  come  out  here  to  pay  us  a  visit." 

"  When's  he  coming,  Father?  " 

"  In  about  two  weeks,  he  says." 

"  My  word!  I  wish  I  could  get  that  Pteranodon 
mounted  before  he  comes!  ' 

"  Well,  can  you?  " 

The  boy  thought  for  a  moment. 

'  '  I  might  be  able  to,  at  that.  You  know,  Father, 
that  Pteranodon  of  ours  is  going  to  be  far  and 
away  the  best  Pteranodon  in  any  museum  in  this 

237 


238       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

country.  The  American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory in  New  York  will  envy  us.  I  wondered,  when 
you  bought  the  specimen  from  that  Kansas  chap, 
that  you  didn't  send  it  to  New  York." 

"I  wanted  to  give  our  own  little  museum  a 
start,"  the  old  merchant  replied,  "  and  it  seemed 
to  me  that  if  it  had  on  exhibition  at  least  one 
thing  that  was  the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  world, 
that  exhibit  would  help  its  reputation  more  than 
anything  I  knew.  I  figure  that  the  Pteranodon 
will  put  our  local  museum  on  the  map." 

"  It  sure  will,"  agreed  Perry. 

"  How  are  you  getting  along  with  the  mount- 
ing of  it?  " 

"  Mighty  well,  I  think,"  the  boy  answered, 
"  seeing  that  I'm  doing  it  nearly  all  alone.  But 
I'd  never  have  been  able  to  tackle  it  so  well  if  you 
hadn't  invited  Antoine  here  last  summer.  He 
taught  me  more  about  preparing  museum  speci- 
mens in  a  month  than  I'd  have  found  out  from 
our  chaps  here  in  a  year.  Why  don't  you  come 
over  and  see  it  now,  Father?  I've  got  all  the 
plaster  off,  and  the  bones  are  laid  out  on  a  table 
ready  for  setting  together." 

"  Very  well,  I'll  go  with  you  now,"  the  mer- 
chant said,  looking  at  his  watch.  "  I'm  quite  keen 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     239 

to  see  how  the  thing  shapes  up.  After  all,  I 
bought  those  bones  on  faith.  I  haven't  even 
looked  at  them  yet." 

"It's  a  cracker  jack,"  the  boy  assured  him, 
"  the  best  that's  ever  been  got  hold  of.  We're 
all  tickled  over  it.  The  skeleton  is  pretty  well 
cleared  away  from  the  chalk  rock  now,  and  I'm 
having  heaps  of  fun  making  the  model." 

6 1  If  you  can  manage  to  get  the  mounting  of  the 
Pteranodon  finished,"  his  father  rejoined,  as  they 
stepped  into  his  car,  "I'd  be  glad.  I'd  like  to 
have  it  ready  to  show  your  Uncle  George  when  he 


comes." 


In  response  to  questioning  about  flying  reptiles 
from  his  father,  Perry,  during  the  ride,  chattered 
steadily  about  pterodactyls  of  every  shape  and 
size,  until  they  stopped  at  the  Museum  building. 
The  boy  took  his  father  to  the  top  floor,  which 
was  used  as  a  workshop.  Eunning  along  one 
whole  side  of  the  building  was  a  long  table,  and 
there,  spread  out  upon  it,  were  a  number  of  blocks 
of  pinkish  chalky  stone.  None  of  these  blocks  was 
more  than  a  couple  of  feet  long,  and  most  of  them 
were  only  a  few  inches  in  length,  but  from  each  of 
them  protruded  a  brown  substance  which,  on  close 
examination,  displayed  itself  as  bone.  The  mer- 


240       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

chant  looked  at  the  fragments  with  interest,  but 
also  with  a  puzzled  air. 

"  Is  that  all  there  is  to  it,  just  those  little  bits 
of  stone  1"  he  asked. 

"  Why,  Father,  what  did  you  expect?  " 

tl  I  thought  you  had  almost  a  whole  skeleton! 
That  collector  fellow  told  me  there  were  very  few 
bones  missing. " 

"  There  aren't  many  of  them  lost,  as  a  matter 
of  fact, ' '  the  boy  responded.  ' '  No,  really,  Father, 
it's  a  bully  specimen." 

"  It  doesn't  look  it." 

"  Wait  just  a  second,"  the  boy  rejoined,  "  and 
I'll  show  you!" 

He  hurried  to  another  part  of  the  workshop  and 
came  back  with  a  curiously  shaped  frame  on  which 
was  stretched  a  piece  of  brown  oiled-silk. 

"  What's  that?  " 

"  One  of  the  wings  for  the  model,"  the  boy 
answered.  He  laid  the  frame  down  upon  the  table 
over  the  blocks  that  contained  the  bones,  and,  as 
though  by  magic,  the  whole  shape  of  the  great 
Pteranodon  seemed  to  spring  into  view.  The  mis- 
sing bones  presented  themselves  to  the  imagina- 
tion as  though  they  were  there,  for  the  spread  of 
the  wing  showed  exactly  how  they  would  fit  in. 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     241 

A  group  of  little  claws,  that  had  been  chiseled  en- 
tirely free  from  the  chalk,  were  carefully  placed 
by  Perry  at  the  ends  of  the  wing-fingers. 

"  So  that's  what  he  looked  like!  "  exclaimed 
the  old  merchant. 

11  I  can  give  you  a  better  idea  yet.  Hold  on  a 
bit,"  said  Perry,  and  he  hurried  away  again. 
Back  he  came,  carrying  in  one  hand  the  companion 
wing,  and  in  his  other  hand  a  wax  model  of  the 
head  and  towering  crest  of  the  great  flying  reptile. 
As  soon  as  this  latter  was  placed  beside  the  scat- 
tered array  of  bones  on  the  table  that  represented 
the  skull,  their  relation  to  each  other  was  shown 
at  once.  Perry  then  laid  the  other  wing  on  the 
table,  the  two  great  brown  membrane-like  wings 
stretching  their  whole  spread  of  twenty-one  feet, 
and  making  it  seem  as  though  that  giant  of  the 
air  had  just  glided  down  upon  that  workshop 
table. 

"  Great  guns,"  said  the  financier,  "  what  a 
monster!  " 

"  Doesn't  that  give  you  an  idea  of  his  size, 
though!  "  exclaimed  the  boy. 

His  father  looked  thoughtfully  at  the  bones  of 
the  skeleton  lying  embedded  in  the  pieces  of  Kan- 
sas chalk  in  which  they  had  been  found,  and  at 


242       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

the  model  with  its  semi-transparent  wings  that 
lay  upon  it,  and  said  thoughtfully: 

"  It's  too  bad  we  couldn't  make  an  entire  hall, 
Perry,  containing  huge  life-size  models  of  all  the 
kinds  of  trees  that  lived  at  that  time,  with  per- 
haps a  cliff  and  sea-shore  and  a  few  of  those 
Pteranodons — models  of  course — flying  around. 
I  believe  in  that  way  people  would  get  the  idea  of 
archaic  life  much  more  easily  than  they  would 
from  specimens  in  a  glass  case." 

"  Oh,  Father!"  cried  the  lad  excitedly,  and 
stopped. 

"  Well?  " 

"It  would  be  bully,"  the  boy  agreed,  "but 
you'd  need  such  miles  of  space!  The  tree  ferns 
would  have  to  be  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  the 
cliff  two  hundred  feet,  so  as  to  get  the  perspective 
right ;  the  hall  would  have  to  be  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred feet  square,  and  we'd  need  a  different  hall 
for  each  of  the  important  periods." 

"  About  how  many?  " 

"  Seven  or  eight,  I  should  think." 

The  old  merchant  shook  his  head. 

"I'm  pretty  well  fixed,"  he  said,  "but  I 
couldn't  stand  for  anything  like  that.  Those  halls 
would  cost  half  a  million  apiece." 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     243 

"  If  you  wanted  to,  Father — "  the  boy  began, 
and  stopped. 

"  Well?  " 

1 1  You  can  get  pretty  nearly  that  effect  by  mak- 
ing models  on  a  small  scale,  say,  an  inch  to  the 
foot.  Then  the  tree  ferns  would  be  ten  feet  high, 
the  Pteranodons  would  be  two  feet  and  all  the 
other  animals  would  be  to  scale.  If  you  worked 
in  the  perspective  and  did  the  lighting  the  way 
that  it's  done  on  the  stage,  people  could  get  al- 
most the  same  effect  as  by  a  big  hall. ' ' 

The  merchant  looked  thoughtfully  at  his  son. 

"  That's  a  good  idea  of  yours,  Perry, "  he  said. 

"  It's  not  my  idea,"  the  lad  rejoined,  "  there's 
a  chap  who's  worked  it  out  for  the  Children's 
Museum  in  Brooklyn  and  the  Metropolitan  Mu- 
seum in  New  York.  His  stuff  is  great!  " 

"  I  wouldn't  mind  spending  a  little  money  for 
a  thing  like  that,"  the  financier  answered. 
"  Models  like  the  ones  you're  talking  about  are 
just  what  the  small  museums  ought  to  have." 

"  Big  ones,  too,"  put  in  Perry. 

"  Of  course.  But  a  considerable  part  of  the 
funds  of  the  larger  museums  must  be  spent  on  ex- 
peditions and  scientific  work  on  a  broad  scale. 
That's  their  main  work.  But  in  order  to  get  the 


244       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

public  interested — which  I  think  is  an  important 
part  of  a  museum's  duty  to  the  people — that 
model  idea  catches  me  about  right.  Why  don't 
you  have  that  fellow  come  on  and  spend  a  couple 
of  days  with  us?  I'll  see  that  it's  worth  his 
while. ' ' 

"I'll  ask  him  like  a  shot,  if  you're  willing," 
Perry  replied.  "I'd  enjoy  it  heaps!  I've  never 
had  more  fun  than  I  did  last  summer  when  you 
asked  that  American  Museum  artist  down  here. 
Jumping  Jehu,  couldn't  he  paint!  " 

"  Yes,"  his  father  agreed,  "  when  it  comes  to 
restorations  of  fossil  monsters,  he's  about  the  best 
ever.  You  picked  up  quite  a  bit  about  painting 
from  him,  too." 

"  I  certainly  did.  And  I'd  like  to  know  a  little 
more  about  modelling,"  the  boy  added  shrewdly, 
well  knowing  that  his  father  was  always  willing 
to  help  him  in  every  way. 

"  All  right,  then,  Perry,  if  you  want  to  drop 
a  note  to  that  sculptor-modeller,  go  ahead." 

The  financier  started  to  go  and  then  turned 
back. 

"  I've  been  thinking  about  the  missing  parts  of 
that  Pteranodon,"  he  said.  "  Don't  you  sup- 
pose, Perry,  that  the  rest  of  those  bones  ought  to 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     245 

Ibe  somewhere  around?  If  I  sent  the  collector 
another  check,  do  you  think  he  could  dig  around 
and  find  some  more?  I'd  like  to  see  that  skeleton 
absolutely  complete. " 

The  boy  shook  his  head. 

"  I  don't  believe  it  would  be  any  use,  Father/' 
he  said.  "  You  see,  that  Pteranodon  was  found 
in  chalk." 

"  Well?  " 

"  That  means  that  he  must  have  died  and 
tumbled  into  the  water  and  sunk  to  the  bottom. 
The  floor  of  the  seu  is  pretty  flat,  especially  when 
it's  made  up  of  those  microscopic  shells  floating 
down,  so  that  the  bones,  when  they  reached  the 
bottom,  must  have  been  spread  out  on  a  level. 
They're  too  light  to  sink  in  much,  and  as  the  chalk 
shells  steadily  rained  down,  they  covered  the  old 
monarch  of  the  air  like  a  sheet.  Then  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  rose  and  became  dry  land.  When,  mil- 
lions of  years  later,  and  probably  not  long  ago, 
rain  and  wind  and  all  the  rest  of  the  things  that 
make  erosion,  washed  away  the  chalk  that  had  ac- 
cumulated on  top  of  the  Pteranodon,  he  lay  there 
just  as  flat  as  ever,  flatter,  because  his  hollow  bones 
were  crushed  by  the  chalk  that  once  had  lain  on 
top  of  him." 


246       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Yes,  that's  true,"  said  the  merchant  thought- 
fully, "  the  bones  would  be  on  a  level." 

"  Sure.  So  if  the  collector  who  found  those 
bones  cleared  away  a  space  a  little  larger  than 
the  spread  of  the  Pteranodon,  say  a  stretch  thirty 
feet  square,  and  worked  that  down  to  a  level,  he  VI 
really  be  looking  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  as 
it  was  when  the  Pteranodon  sank  down.  If  he 
explored  that  stretch  for  a  few  inches  further 
down,  he'd  certainly  find  all  the  bones  he  would 
be  likely  to  find,  for  even  an  inch  of  chalk  would 
mean  a  thousand-years'  deposit." 

"  That  may  be  all  right,  son,"  said  his  father, 
"  and  you've  made  a  good  case  for  the  collector. 
But  just  the  same,  the  bones  must  be  somewhere. ' ' 

"  Sure,  but  where!  See,  right  here,  Father," 
and  the  lad  put  his  finger  on  the  skeleton, i '  there 's 
the  place  where  the  sternum  ought  to  be,  one  of 
the  biggest  bones  of  the  whole  Pteranodon.  It 
wasn't  found  at  all.  Yet  you'd  think  that  the  big- 
gest bone  would  be  the  easiest  to  find." 

"  That's  just  what  I'm  saying.  It  must  be 
somewhere.  A  bone  from  a  dead  bird  can't  get 
up  and  walk  off  by  itself." 

t  '  No,  but  a  big  primitive  fish  or  a  crab,  or  some- 
thing, could  have  pulled  away  the  bone  when  mak- 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     247 

ing  his  dinner  on  the  dead  Pteranodon  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sea.  Anyway,  it's  a  rare  thing  when 
there  aren't  some  bones  missing  in  a  fossil.  In 
the  Fayum,  it  used  to  seem  to  me  an  awful  shame 
that  the  skeletons  were  so  often  broken  up  into 
little  bits.  But  we  had  to  take  them  as  they 
came." 

"  You'll  make  up  the  rest  of  the  skeleton  in 
plaster,  I  suppose?  " 

"  That's  nearly  done,  Father,"  the  boy  replied. 
"  But  we're  not  going  to  take  the  skeleton  free 
from  the  chalk  and  mount  it.'' 

"  Why  not?  " 

"  Couldn't  be  done  successfully.  As  I  was  tell- 
ing you,  the  bones  are  crushed.  See,  Father,  a 
Pteranodon 's  bones  are  hollow,  like  a  thin  paste- 
board tube,  and  the  pressure  of  the  overlying  chalk 
has  squashed  them  flat,  and  splintered  them.  It 
would  be  an  awful  job  to  rebuild  that  tubular  bone. 
No,  we're  going  to  chisel  away  the  chalk  for  about 
an  inch  below  the  level  of  the  bones,  soaking  them 
meanwhile  in  shellac  until  they  won't  absorb  any 
more  and  cementing  together  the  pieces  that  are 
cracked  and  broken.  Then  we'll  make  a  plaster 
model  of  the  whole  base,  fitting  in  the  bits  of  chalk 
we  have,  and  we  '11  color  that  pink  like  the  rock  in 


248       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

which  the  bones  were  found.  On  that  model, 
which  will  be  exactly  to  scale,  we'll  be  able  to  see 
exactly  where  the  missing  bones  come  and  we'll 
mold  them  on  the  model.  "We'll  color  them 
slightly  different  from  the  true  bones,  so  that  an 
expert  can  see  right  away  which  are  the  restored 
parts,  but  the  public  will  get  the  idea  of  the  beast 
as  a  whole." 

"  And  your  restoration  will  be  of  wax!  " 

16  We've  got  a  regular  composition  for  that, 
and  I'm  molding  it  over  a  steel  frame  so  as  to 
give  it  strength.  Then  I'll  paint  it  up  to  look  as 
much  like  life  as  possible." 

"  How  do  you  know  what  color  to  paint  it?  " 
queried  his  father.  "  There  wasn't  any  artist  in 
existence  to  take  notes  when  Pteranodon  was  flying 
around." 

"  No,"  Perry  replied.  "  But  there  isn't  any 
reason  to  suppose  Pteranodon  was  in  bright  colors 
and  a  blackish-brown  is  the  usual  thing  in  Nature, 
so  I'm  going  to  make  it  that." 

"  Where  are  you  going  to  put  the  exhibit?  " 
queried  the  old  merchant,  as  he  went  to  the  door. 

"  Eight  in  this  main  hall,"  the  boy  answered. 
"  It's  our  biggest  prize,  thanks  to  you,  Father, 
and  we're  going  to  make  the  most  of  it." 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     249 

His  father  laughed  at  the  lad's  confident  man- 
ner. 

"  I  hope  you  occasionally  consult  the  Director," 
he  said.  "  You  talk  for  all  the  world,  Perry,  as 
though  you  were  the  only  person  in  the  build- 
ing." 

The  boy  colored  to  the  roots  of  his  hair  at  the 
implied  rebuke  of  boasting. 

"  I  didn't  mean  to,"  he  said,  "  but — but  I  have 
got  the  sort  of  idea  that  the  Pteranodon  is  my 
pet,  and  they've  let  me  work  it  all  out,  almost  by 
myself.  The  Director's  in  and  out  all  the  time, 
of  course." 

With  the  goal  before  him  of  having  both  the 
skeleton  prepared  and  also  the  model  finished  and 
hung  before  the  arrival  of  his  uncle,  Perry  worked 
night  and  day.  The  director  of  the  small  museum 
helped  him,  for  he  too  was  anxious  to  have  the 
museum's  richest  treasure  on  display  before  the 
coming  of  Dr.  Hunt.  Between  them,  they  accom- 
plished wonders,  and  the  day  before  the  expected 
visit  of  the  scientist,  the  skeleton  of  the  Pterano- 
don was  safely  affixed  against  the  wall  of  the  main 
hall,  while  above  him,  swooping  downwards,  was 
the  21-foot  model  of  the  giant  flying  reptile.  He 
looked  every  inch  his  size,  and  the  actual  bones 


250       THE  'MONSTER-HUNTERS 

themselves,  immediately  below,  showed  how  ex- 
actly true  to  reality  was  the  restoration  that  had 
been  made. 

When,  next  day,  his  uncle  came,  Perry  could 
hardly  restrain  his  impatience  until  a  visit  to  the 
Museum  had  been  arranged.  He  was  proud  of 
his  work,  as  proud  in  completing  the  preparation 
of  the  skeleton  and  the  model  as  he  had  been  when, 
one  evening  two  years  before,  in  the  red  sand  of 
the  Eocene  river  bed  in  Egypt,  he  had  shown  his 
uncle  the  skull  of  the  Moeritherium.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  he  was  a  little  anxious,  for  the  director 
of  the  local  museum,  though  a  scholar,  was  not  an 
expert  in  paleontology. 

The  lad  was  on  pins  and  needles,  therefore, 
when,  with  his  father  and  his  uncle,  the  car  slowed 
up  at  the  Museum.  Perry  led  them  into  the  main 
hall  and  pointed  to  the  wall. 

"  There!  "  he  said. 

The  professor  cast  a  quick  glance  at  the  model 
overhead,  but,  as  Perry  knew  well,  it  was  not  the 
restoration,  but  the  actual  skeleton  itself  that  in- 
terested the  scientist  and  he  walked  up  to  the  case. 
Carefully,  with  an  examination  of  details  that 
amazed  Perry,  for  even  he  did  not  realize  how 
much  importance  might  attach  to  a  small  groove 


Courtesy  of  J.  B.  Lippincott , 

PTERANODON,  CLIMBING  FOR  A  SWOOP*. 

The  great  flying  reptile,  twenty-one  feet  long,  clawing  his  way  up  the 

cliff  to  get  a  start  for  his  soaring  flight ;  restoration  from 

Gregory,  in  "Geology  of  To-day." 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     251 

in  a  joint,  the  scientist  scrutinized  every  bone,  and 
every  fragment  of  the  plaster. 

"  Excellent/'  he  said  heartily,  "  excellent  piece 
of  work!  Very  well  handled  indeed,  Perry. 
You've  got  a  real  specimen  there,  and  the  prepa- 
ration is  first  class." 

The  director,  who  had  hurried  out  of  his  office 
on  the  approach  of  the  car,  heard  the  last  couple 
of  sentences  and  smiled  at  the  boy. 

"  Of  course,"  the  professor  continued,  "  there 
are  one  or  two  small  points,  quite  small  points, 
that  I  think  might  be  changed." 

"  What?  "  queried  Perry. 

"  That  crest,  for  one  thing,"  the  scientist  re- 
plied. "  There  is  every  reason  to  think  that  the 
Pteranodon  developed  that  large  crest  sticking  out 
the  back  of  his  head  as  a  balance.  As  the  genus 
grew  in  size,  the  toothed  beak  of  the  Pteranodon 
became  longer  in  order  to  enable  him  to  get  food 
easily.  Judging  from  the  bones  of  his  neck, 
which  you  see  are  small,  Perry,  it  is  unlikely  that 
he  could  have  carried  heavy  enough  muscles  to 
support  the  one-sided  weight  of  a  heavy  jaw,  and 
the  crest  acted  as  a  balance.  Now,  you  have  the 
crest  standing  up  from  the  skull  at  an  angle  of 
forty-five  degrees.  That  would  put  more  weight 


252       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

on  the  top  of  the  skull  and  diminish  the  balancing 
effect.  If  you  draw  a  straight  line  along  the  upper 
jaw  to  the  skull  and  project  that  backwards,  you 
will  have  the  right  line  for  the  crest." 

"  So  that's  why  he  had  that  crest!  "  exclaimed 
Perry.  Then  turning  to  the  director,  he  added, 
"  Mr.  Thompson,  neither  of  us  thought  of  that 
reason,  did  we?  " 

"  Then,"  continued  the  professor,  "  I  think  you 
have  the  stretch  of  the  wings  a  little  too  straight. 
The  wing-finger  of  nearly  all  the  Pterodactyls  was 
curved."  He  also  mentioned  one  or  two  smaller 
matters,  but  turning  to  the  director  of  the  local 
museum,  concluded: 

"  I  think,  Mr.  Thompson,  if  you  will  make  those 
trifling  changes,  you  will  have  in  your  Museum 
here  without  question  the  finest  specimen  of  a 
Pteranodon  extant." 

"  Very  well,  Dr.  Hunt,"  the  director  answered, 
"I'm  obliged  for  the  suggestions.  I  think  I'll 
let  Perry  carry  them  out,  since  you  think  he's 
done  so  well  so  far." 

"  He  has  done  a  first-class  piece  of  work,"  the 
scientist  said,  quite  enthusiastically,  "  one  that 
would  do  credit  to  any  museum.  If  you'll  let  me 
have  a  photograph,  Perry,  and  the  exact  dimen- 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     253 

sions  of  all  the  bones,  I'll  write  a  short  scientific 
paper  on  it  and  give  you  the  credit  for  the  restor- 
ation, under  Mr.  Thompson's  direction." 

"  Oh,  Uncle  George, "  he  said,  "  that  would  be 
great,  but  it  was  Mr.  Thompson  who  showed  me 
what  to  do." 

"  No,"  remarked  the  director,  "  Dr.  Hunt  is 
speaking  of  the  restoration,  and  I  let  you  go  ahead 
on  that  in  your  own  way.  If  Dr.  Hunt  writes  a 
paper  on  it,  the  credit  for  the  restoration  is  all 
yours.  Mounting  the  skeleton,  of  course,  is  a  dif- 
ferent matter." 

The  scientist  was  distinctly  pleased  with  the 
lad's  work  and  reverted  to  it  more  than  once  in 
the  course  of  the  day.  At  the  same  time,  the 
genuine  scientific  interest  shown  by  the  professor 
in  the  Pteranodon  was  grateful  to  the  old  mer- 
chant, who,  as  he  said  himself,  had  bought  the 
bones  "  on  faith." 

The  third  day  of  Dr.  Hunt's  visit,  at  dinner, 
the  scientist  turned  to  his  nephew  and  said  quite 
unexpectedly : 

"  Perry,  do  you  know  the  famous  poem  about 
the  Eohippus?  " 

"  No,  Uncle  George,"  the  boy  replied.  "  I 
don't  believe  I  do." 


254       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

' '  You  are  acquainted  with  our  little  friend,  the 
Eohippus,  I  suppose?  " 

Perry  grinned. 

"  In  books  and  in  bones, "  he  said,  "  but  I 
haven't  ever  met  him  in  real  life." 

Then,  for  he  never  missed  an  opportunity  of 
trying  to  persuade  his  uncle  to  take  him  on  another 
expedition,  he  added: 

"I'd  be  awfully  glad  to  meet  him,  though, 
Uncle  George,  if  you're  going  to  pay  him  a  visit." 

"  I  am,"  the  scientist  replied.  "  But  if  you 
don't  know  that  little  bit  of  verse,  which  was  writ- 
ten by  a  clever  and  quite  well-known  woman  after 
a  visit  to  our  New  York  Museum,  part  of  your 
education  as  a  paleontologist  has  been  seriously 
neglected,  and  I'm  going  to  make  up  for  that  neg- 
lect at  once. ' '  And,  without  further  preamble,  he 
began : 

"  There  was  once  a  little  animal 

No  bigger  than  a  fox, 
And  on  five  toes  he  scampered 

Over  Tertiary  rocks; 
They  called  him  Eohippus, 

For  he  certainly  was  small, 
And  they  thought  him  of  no  value 

When  they  thought  of  him  at  all; 
For  the  lumpish  old  Dinoceras 

And  Coryphodon  so  slow, 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     255 

Were  the  heavy  aristocracy 
In  days  of  long  ago." 

"  Except  that  the  Dinoceras  didn't  live  at  the 
same  time  as  the  Eohippus,"  put  in  Perry,  "  he 
came  along  later." 

"  Poetic  license, "  replied  his  uncle.  "  I  didn't 
write  the  verse.  Shall  I  go  on?  " 

"Oh,  sure!  "  answered  Perry  eagerly. 

So  his  uncle  continued: 

"Said  the  little  Eohippus, 

'  I'm  going  to  be  a  horse ! 
And  on  my  middle  finger-nails 

To  run  my  earthly  course! 
I'm  going  to  have  a  flowing  tail, 

I'm  going  to  have  a  mane, 
I'm  going  to  stand  fourteen  hands  high, 

On  the  psychozoic  plain.' " 

"  He  got  away  with  it,  too,"  commented  Perry, 
"  but  I  don't  wonder  that  the  Coryphodon  couldn't 
see  it  coming." 

"Not  only  couldn't  he  see  it  coming,"  said 
his  uncle,  "  but  the  poet  represents  him  as  being 
quite  annoyed  about  it. ' '  And  he  continued : 

"  The  Coryphodon  was  horrified, 
The  Dinoceras  was  shocked, 
And  they  chased  young  Eohippus, 
But  he  skipped  away  and  mocked; 


256       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Then  they  laughed  enormous  laughter, 

And  they  groaned  enormous  groans, 
And  they  bade  young  Eohippus 

Go  view  his  father's  bones. 
Said  they,  'You  always  were  as  small 

And  mean  as  now  we  see, 
And  that's  conclusive  evidence 

That  you're  always  going  to  be.' 
'  What !    Be  a  great,  tall,  handsome  beast, 

With  hoofs  to  gallop  on? 
Why,  you'd  have  to  change  your  nature ! ' 

Said  the  Loxolophodon. 
They  considered  him  disposed  of 

And  retired  with  gait  serene, 
That  was  the  way  they  argued 

In  the  early  Eocene." 

"  Loxolophodon  isn't  early  Eocene,  either," 
protested  Perry.  "It's  a  bully  rhyme,  Father, 
but  it  has  got  scientific  kinks." 

"  How?  " 

"  Well,  take  the  line,  '  On  five  toes  he  scam- 
pered.' Eohippus  didn't  have  five  toes,  if  I've 
got  it  right.  I  know  when  I  stopped  at  New  York, 
on  the  way  home  from  that  great  trip  we  had  in 
the  Fayum,  I  spent  over  an  hour  in  that  alcove 
of  the  horses  in  the  American  Museum,  and 
I'm  just  as  sure  as  I  can  be  that  the  Eohippus 
skeleton  they  exhibited  there  had  only  four  toes 
on  the  forefeet  and  three  on  the  hind  feet." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 

FINDING  THE  EOBASILEUS. 

Haystack  Mountain,  in  the  Bad  Lands  of  Wyoming;  the  museum 
explorer  is  standing  at  spot  where  the  skeleton  was  discovered. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History-. 

THE  EOBASILEUS  OB  LOXOLOPHODON. 

A  four-horned  amblypod  (blunt-feet)  the  largest  and  last  of  his  race,  of 

which  vast  herds  roamed  over  the  United  States 

three  million  years  ago. 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     257 

The  scientist  looked  across  the  table  at  his 
brother. 

"  We're  going  to  make  a  paleontologist  out  of 
this  chap  after  all,  I  believe, "  he  said.  "  Now, 
Perry,  was  there  any  horse  earlier  than  the  Eohip- 
pus? " 

"  There's  one  awfully  like  Eohippus  that  they 
found  in  the  London  Clay,"  the  boy  answered. 
"  Let's  see  if  I  can  remember  what  he's  called? 
He  isn't  a  '  Hippus  '  anything!  " 

There  was  a  moment's  silence. 

"  Hyra — Hyratherium, "  he  said  at  last. 

"  Hyracotherium,"  the  scientist  corrected  him, 
shaking  his  head. 

11  That's  it.  But  I  could  never  quite  make  out, 
Uncle  George,  whether  he  was  much  different  from 
Eohippus.  He  didn't  have  five  toes,  did  he?  " 

"  No  one  knows,"  was  the  answer.  "  Some  of 
these  days  we  may  find  a  complete  skeleton  of 
Hyracotherium  in  that  big  stretch  of  clay  under 
London,  but,  so  far,  there's  only  a  skull  known. 
Personally,  I  think  he's  the  same  as  an  Eohippus. 
Of  course  there  are  rudiments  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  toes  on  the  hind  feet  of  that  type.  But  was 
there  ever  a  true  five-toed  horse?  " 

"  I  don't  know," 


258       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  his  uncle,  "  that  you'd 
better  come  along  with  me  and  try  to  find  out. 
I  don't  know,  either." 

Perry  almost  jumped  from  his  chair. 

"  Oh,  Uncle  George,"  he  said,  "  you're  going 
off  on  another  expedition!  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Where?" 

"  Wyoming." 

"  And  am  I  going?  " 

"  That's  for  your  father  to  say.  I'd  like  to 
have  you  along." 

The  lad  looked  appealingly  to  the  old  merchant 
at  the  head  of  the  tahle.  The  latter  caught  his 
son's  look  and  smiled. 

"  I  think  we'll  have  to  let  the  boy  go  with  you, 
George,"  he  said,  "  if  it's  only  to  give  us  a  rest. 
I  pledge  you  my  word  that  there's  been  so  much 
paleontology  talked  in  this  house  ever  since  Perry 
came  back  from  that  Egyptian  trip,  that  half  the 
time,  when  a  bird  comes  on  the  table  at  dinner 
time,  I  hardly  know  whether  I'm  carving  a  modern 
chicken  or  an  Archaeopteryx. " 

The  scientist  smiled  broadly. 

"  In  that  case,"  he  said,  "  you'd  better  let  him 
come  with  me." 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     259 

"Oh,  Father, "  cried  Perry,  "  can't  I  got  " 

The  boy's  mother  began  some  protest  from  the 
other  end  of  the  table,  but  the  old  merchant  paid 
no  heed. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  thoughtfully,  "  I  don't  see 
any  reason  why  you  shouldn't  go." 

Perry  wriggled  in  his  chair  with  eagerness. 

i  l  Uncle  George,"  he  began  excitedly,  "when 
are  we  going  to  start?  And  just  whereabouts  in 
Wyoming  are  we  going?  And  what  are  we  go- 
ing to  look  for?  And — " 

The  professor  put  up  his  hand  in  protest. 

"  Easy,  easy  there,  Perry,"  he  said.  "I've  SL 
lively  remembrance  of  what  you're  like  when  you 
start  asking  questions.  Spare  me  now.  I'll  take 
a  walk  with  you  after  dinner  and  you  can  spring 
anything  that  you  want  to  know,  then.  " 

Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  meal  came  to  an 
end — and  Perry  had  never  thought  a  dinner  could 
seem  so  long  and  slow,  he  handed  his  uncle  his 
hat  and  the  big  ironwood  stick  that  the  professor 
always  carried,  grabbed  his  own  cap  and  half- 
pushed  him  out  of  the  door. 

"Now,  Uncle  George,"  he  said.  "Please, 
quick,  tell  me  all  about  it!  When  are  we  going 
to  start?  " 


26o       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

The  professor  took  out  his  watch  with  an  as- 
sumption of  intense  hurry  and  consulted  it. 

"  The  last  Eohippus  sank  quietly  to  sleep  about 
two  and  a  quarter  million  years  ago,"  he  said, 
"  and  somehow  I  seem  to  think  that  he'll  stay 
there  and  wait  for  us  a  little  while  longer.  But 
of  course,  if  you're  in  such  a  tremendous  rush — " 

"  Please  don't  joke,  Uncle  George,  I  really  want 
to  know  when  we're  going  to  start.  I'd  like  to 
make  those  corrections  on  that  Pteranodon  that 
you  told  me  about  before  I  go,  any  way." 

"  You  can  probably  do  that,"  the  scientist  re- 
plied. "  I  had  planned  to  start  for  the  west  in 
a  couple  of  weeks." 

"  Whereabouts?  " 

"  I  want  to  correlate  some  horizons,"  was  the 
reply. 

The  boy  looked  puzzled. 

"  You  don't  see  what  I  mean!  "  the  professor 
asked 

"  I  don't,  quite,"  the  lad  replied. 

"  Well,  Perry,  I  want  to  visit  three  or  four 
points  in  Wyoming  where  different  strata  of  rock 
are  exposed,  working  from  the  Upper  Eocene 
downwards.  You  remember,  at  the  Fayum,  there 
were  rocks  belonging  to  the  Oligocene  Period  right 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     261 

up  at  the  top  of  the  cliff,  Upper  Eocene  on  the 
next  layer,  Middle  Eocene  where  we  had  our  camp, 
and  Lower  Eocene  down  near  that  Birket-el-Qurun 
lake?  " 

"  You  bet  I  remember, "  said!  Perry,  "  why, 
Uncle  George,  just  for  fun  I  made  myself  a  model 
of  it." 

"  Good  thing  to  do,  it'll  help  you  to  remember. 
Now,  in  the  States  we  haven't  any  one  place  where 
all  these  various  strata  show  up  clearly  one  above 
the  other,  with  great  ledges  exposed  for  explora- 
tion and  working,  as  they  are  in  the  Fayum.  But, 
all  over  Wyoming,  in  different  valleys  and  at  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Bad  Lands,  there  are  these 
same  strata  exposed  for  miles  and  miles.  At  one 
place,  Perry,  such  as  the  Washakie  formation, 
where  I'm  going  first,  all  the  rocks  deposited  since 
the  time  of  the  Upper  Eocene  Period,  have  been 
washed  or  weathered  away,  so  that  the  Upper 
Eocene  layers  are  exposed.  It's  a  Bad  Land 
country,  too,  where  the  rocks  are  soft,  where  there 
is  no  fertile  soil  and  no  steady  rainfall.  So,  when 
the  cloudbursts  come,  the  rain  eats  easily  into  the 
soft  rocks  and  carries  them  into  buttes  and  ravines. 
The  sand-bearing  winds  cut  them  away  still  fur- 
ther, so  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square 


262       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

feet  exposed  to  the  weather  and  erosion  is  always 
going  on." 

"  Gee,  what  a  chance!  "  cried  Perry.  "  Why, 
you  could  go  over  a  country  like  that  every  year 
and  find  something. " 

"  You  can  travel  over  it  after  every  rainstorm 
or  windstorm,  for  that  matter.  Then,  after  I've 
spent  a  day  or  two  at  the  Washakie,  I'm  going 
to  the  Bridger  Bad  Lands.  They've  been  cut 
down  a  little  further,  so  that  all  the  Upper  Eocene 
has  been  eroded  and  the  Middle  Eocene  is  ex- 
posed. So  you  see,  Perry,  in  the  Washakie  forma- 
tion we  have  a  chance  of  finding  the  fossils  of 
animals  that  lived  in  the  Upper  Eocene  Period; 
and,  a  few  miles  away,  in  the  Bridger  Bad  Lands, 
we  can  find  the  fossils  of  half  a  million  years 
earlier.  Then,  in  the  Wasatch,  there  are  two 
places  I'm  going  to  visit,  the  Wind  Eiver  Val- 
ley and  the  Gray  Bull  Eiver  country;  the  Wind 
Eiver  exposes  the  top  of  the  Lower  Eocene  Eocks 
and  the  Gray  Bull  the  bottom  layers.  Then,  if  I 
can  get  time,  I'll  go  to  New  Mexico,  where  there 
has  been  more  erosion  and  the  rocks  are  cut  away 
down  to  the  Basal  Eocene,  and,  after  that,  I  plan 
to  come  back  to  Wyoming  for  the  famous  Laramie 
formation,  which  is  cut  down  to  the  Cretaceous 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     263 

Period,  or  the  Age  of  Chalk,  and  which  has  been 
our  great  hunting  ground  for  the  Dinosaurs. ' ' 

"  My  Pteranodon  was  from  the  Age  of  Chalk. " 

"  Certainly,  Perry,  but  it  was  from  a  marine 
formation,  earlier  than  the  Laramie.  You  see 
the  Cretaceous  Ocean  covered  Kansas,  but  did  not 
cover  Wyoming.  I  want  to  make  an  exact  map 
of  the  relations  of  these  strata  to  each  other  so 
as  to  show  clearly  the  way  in  which  the  rocks 
were  laid  down  and  to  give  a  continuous  picture  of 
the  life  of  the  animals  that  lived  during  those 
times.  You  know  well,  Perry,  that  I'm  always 
more  interested  in  fossils  for  the  sake  of  the  ideas 
of  primitive  life  that  they  give,  than  for  fossils 
themselves." 

"  Same  here,"  said  the  boy.  "  And  where  are 
we  going  to  strike  first,  Uncle  George?  You  said 
the  Washakie  formation.  Whereabouts,  at  Hay- 
stack Mountain?  " 

Again  the  scientist  looked  approvingly  at  his 
nephew. 

"  You're  really  doing  quite  well,  Perry,"  he 
said.  "  What  made  you  think  of  Haystack  Moun- 
tain? " 

"  I've  been  interested  in  Eocene  deposits  ever 
since  that  Fayum  trip,"  the  boy  replied,  "  and  I 


264       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

found  out  that  Haystack  Mountain  was  the  same 
age  as  the  beds  we  worked  in  Egypt,  where  I  found 
the  Moeritherium.  That's  sort  of  made  me  feel 
that  Eocene  fossils  were  my  particular  end." 

"  Do  you  expect  to  find  another  Moeritherium 
in  Wyoming?  " 

"  No,  of  course  not.  The  Moeritherium  isn't 
found  anywhere  except  in  Africa.  You  said  so." 

"  Are  the  elephants  found  anywhere  else?  " 

"  Oh,  sure.    They  went  everywhere." 

"  Why  didn't  the  Moeritherium  go  every- 
where? " 

11  Because — because;  oh,  I  suppose,  Africa 
wasn't  connected  by  land  with  Europe  or  Asia. 
Yes,  that's  right.  Africa  was  an  island  in  the 
Eocene  Period." 

"  How  about  Zeuglodons,  then?  Would  you 
find  them  in  Haystack  Mountain?  The  fact  that 
Africa  was  an  island  wouldn't  matter  to  primitive 
whales. ' ' 

Perry  rubbed  his  forehead  in  perplexity. 

"  I've  a  feeling,"  he  said  slowly,  "  that  there 
aren't  any  there,  but  why?"  He  thought  for  a 
moment,  then  catching  sight  of  a  twinkle  in  his 
uncle's  eye,  a  sudden  thought  struck  him.  "  Why, 
of  course  not,"  he  said,  laughing  at  himself, 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     265 

"  that's  inland.  WeVe  got  Zeuglodons  in  the 
marine  Eocene  deposits  in  Florida." 

"  I  was  wondering, "  his  uncle  said,  "  if  you 
were  going  to  have  whales  walking  all  over  the 
land.  I  just  wanted  to  remind  you  that  you  Ve  got 
to  think  of  the  conditions  of  the  deposit  as  well 
as  the  age.  One  other  thing,  Perry.  If,  during 
the  Eocene  Period,  Africa  was  an  island,  do  you 
suppose  America  was  connected  with  Europe  and 
Asia  or  not?  " 

"  N— no,"  answered  Perry  doubtfully.  "  I 
think  probably  not.  If  it  was  a  time  when  the 
land  was  depressed  in  Africa,  it  probably  was  de- 
pressed here." 

"  Then  if  Africa  had  her  own  types  of  animals, 
like  the  Moeritherium,  that  we  didn't  have,  you 
might  expect  us  to  have  some  types  that  Africa 
and  Europe  and  Asia  didn't  have." 

"  Like  the  giraffe-camels?  " 

"  Exactly,"  the  professor  agreed,  "  like  the 
giraffe-camels.  But  in  later  deposits,  the  types 
mixed.  Now,  Perry,  if  you  think  you  really  want 
to  come  with  me,  you  can  either  join  me  in  three 
weeks  at  the  Museum  Camp  near  Haystack  Butte, 
or  you  can  join  me  a  few  days  earlier  and  go 
with  me  to  the  Loup  Eiver  formation  in  Nebraska. 


266       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

It's  on  the  way,  and  the  Museum  received  a  let- 
ter the  other  day  from  a  ranchman,  who  seems 
to  have  found  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Columbian 
mammoth.  They  want  me  to  go  and  look  it  over. 
I  thought  you  might  like  to  see  a  mammoth  em- 
bedded. As  I  understand,  this  chap  has  had  the 
sense  to  leave  the  skeleton  untouched,  so  it  may 
be  in  good  shape." 

"  I'd  awfully  like  to  go  there,"  said  the  boy, 
"  but  I  do  think  I  ought  to  finish  up  the  Pterano- 
don  first,  and  it'll  take  me  all  of  two  weeks.  I'll 
join  you  out  at  Haystack  Butte,  if  I  may.  I'd 
like  to  go  with  you  to  see  that  mammoth,  though, 
'cause  I've  never  seen  one  really  in  the  ground. 
And  just  what  sort  of  a  beast  was  the  Columbian 
Mammoth,  Uncle  George!  I've  never  got  clearly 
in  my  head  the  differences  between  a  mastodon 
and  a  mammoth." 

"It's  a  thing  you  ought  to  know,"  his  uncle 
said,  "  particularly  as  you  found  the  Moerithe- 
rium  for  us.  You  remember  the  Paleo-mastodon 
skull  that  Antoine  found  the  night  before  you  made 
your  discovery,  don't  you?  ' 

"  Of  course  !" 

"  And  you  remember  that  while  the  Moerithe- 
rium  skull  was  found  in  an  Upper  Eocene  bed, 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     267 

the  Paleo-mastodon  skull  was  found  in  a  lower 
Oligoeene." 

"  Of  course. " 

"  And  you  just  now  told  me  that  Africa  was 
an  island  during  the  Eocene  period  and  that  it 
gradually  rose,  making  land  bridges  across  the 
Mediterranean  during  the  later  Oligocene." 

"  Yes,"  Perry  agreed. 

"  Very  good.  Then,  when  the  land  bridges 
were  made,  and  the  mammals  from  Africa  first 
had  the  chance  to  make  their  way  into  Europe 
and  Asia  and  so  on  to  America,  the  ancestors  of 
the  elephants  were  a  little  more  advanced  than 
Paleo-mastodon.  That's  clear?  " 

"  Quite." 

"  And  so  you  might  find  the  descendants  of 
Paleo-mastodon  in  Europe  in  the  Miocene  Period, 
after  the  land  bridges  were  made,  but  not  earlier. ' ' 

"  Yes,  I  see." 

' '  That 's  exactly  what  happened.  In  the  Lower 
Miocene  of  Europe  is  found  the  Trilophodon  or 
four-tusked  Mastodon.  The  European  form  is 
older  and  less  developed  than  the  four-tusked  Mas- 
todon of  America,  but  the  little  fellow  traveled 
from  Africa  to  China,  going  through  Arabia,  and 
from  Africa  to  Florida  by  way  of  the  Behring 


268       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Straits  land  bridges.  They  weren't  straits,  then, 
of  course. 

11  So,  in  that  warm  corner  of  Africa,  the  ele- 
phants slowly  began  to  develop  until  the  time  of 
Paleo-mastodon  and  later,  going  on  their  own  way 
without  any  interference  from  others.  They  man- 
aged to  defend  themselves  from  the  creodonts 
and,  little  by  little,  developed  trunks  and  tusks. 
Then  came  the  land  opening  into  Europe  and  Asia, 
and,  like  a  stream  bursting  through  a  dam,  the 
four-tusked  Mastodons  scattered  to  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  earth,  trumpeting  as  they  went. 

"  They  grew  more  and  more  powerful.  Soon 
the  little  four-tusked  fellow  decided  to  give  all  his 
attention  to  the  development  of  his  upper  tusks 
and  to  let  the  lower  ones  go.  One  type,  which 
we  call  the  Beaked  Mastodon,  had  a  short  jaw  and 
his  lower  tusks  turned  down.  It  wasn't  a  very 
good  arrangement  and  his  kind  became  extinct. 
The  other  two  types  are  distinguished  by  a  differ- 
ence in  the  teeth — " 

"  Teeth  again!  "  exclaimed  Perry. 

"  Exactly.  One  had  four  crests  on  the  second 
molar,  the  other  had  three,  but  it  was  the  three- 
crested  type  that  had  the  first  success  and  the 
three-crested  style  that  led  to  the  modern  Mas- 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     269 

todon.  The  first  big  Tertiary  two-tusked  Masto- 
don, who  is  called  Dibelodon,  had  the  three-crested 
tooth,  and  he  spread  everywhere.  All  the  South 
American  Mastodons  were  of  his  race. 

"  Meantime,  another  of  the  family  decided  to 
develop  the  lower  tusks,  instead  of  the  upper,  and 
they  stuck  downwards  at  right  angles  to  the  lower 
jaw.  If  you  can  imagine  an  exaggerated  walrus 
tusk  effect,  only  coming  from  the  lower  jaw,  in- 
stead of  from  the  upper,  you  can  get  some  idea 
of  it." 

"What  a  queer-looking  brute!  What  would 
be  the  use  of  tusks  like  that?  " 

"  For  roots,"  his  uncle  replied.  "  It  worked 
fairly  well,  for  the  family  succeeded  for  a  long 
time,  too.  The  biggest  specimen  of  Dinotherium, 
which  was  found  in  Eoumania,  was  bigger  than  the 
largest  Mastodon.  But  the  Dinothere  didn't  have 
the  real  emigration  spirit.  So  far  as  we  know,  he 
never  came  to  the  New  World. 

"  At  last  came  the  true  American  Mastodon, 
developed  from  the  three-crested  tooth  type.  He 
lived  during  the  Age  of  Man.  Primitive  Man 
hunted  the  Mastodon  and  the  Mammoth,  and  has 
even  left  pictures  of  the  chase  engraved  on  rein- 
deer horn.  When  you  stop  to  consider  the  crude 


270       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

types  of  stone  weapons  that  Man  used  at  that  time, 
it  looks  like  long  odds  against  the  Man.  Yet  the 
Mastodons  have  all  gone  from  the  earth  and  Man 
remains. ' ' 

6  (  There  were  living  Mastodons  not  so  long  ago, 
weren't  there,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  Quite  recently/'  the  professor  answered, 
"  but  the  stories  you  hear  about  Mastodons  hav- 
ing been  seen  within  historic  times  are  untrue. 
Still,  their  skeletons  are  never  deeply  buried. 
They  are  generally  found  in  bogs  and  swamps. 
A  great  many  have  been  found  in  New  York  State 
and  their  fossil  remains  are  plentiful  all  over  the 
Middle  West.  You  know  that  big  swamp  about 
twenty  miles  south  of  here?  " 

"  You  mean  Jackson's  Bog?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Sure.  I've  often  gone  after  wild  duck, 
there." 

"  I  wouldn't  be  at  all  surprised  if  there  were 
Mastodons  in  that  swamp.  I  don't  mean  for 
shooting  purposes,"  and  the  professor  laughed, 
"  but  buried  there.  Some  of  these  days,  if  the 
swamp  is  drained,  possibly  many  Mastodon  skulls 
and  tusks  will  be  found.  The  animals  swarmed 
all  over  this  part  of  America.  One  skeleton,  even, 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

THE  AMERICAN  MASTODON. 

The  ancestor  of  the  modern  elephants ;  note  the  extreme  heaviness  of 

body  and  the  sloping  head.    The  mastodon  was  heavier 

than  the  modern  elephant,  though  not  as  tall. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

THE  SIBERIAN  MAMMOTH. 

A  near  relative  of  the  Indian  elephant,  and  like  the  toaetodo^, 

temporary  of  Primitive  Man.    Note  the  greB,teT\Kedg>i1<  dra  -t6 

length    of  limb,   the    thicker    and  coarser    hair,   and   the 

straighter  shape  of  skull;  the  tusk  formation,  also,  is 

characteristic,  and  longer  than  in  modern  elephants. 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     271 

which  was  found  in  New  York  State,  was  so  well 
preserved  that  masses  of  golden-brown  hair  were 
found  still  attached  to  the  withered  skin." 

The  boy  looked  eagerly  to  the  southward  over 
the  countryside. 

"  You'd  like  to  go  and  start  digging  in  Jack- 
son's Bog  right  now,  wouldn't  you1?  "  his  uncle 
asked. 

"Yes,"  Perry  answered  with  a  laugh,  "I 
would.  I  never  thought  that  there  might  be  a  Mas- 
todon so  near  home." 

"  You  don't  have  to  get  far  away  from  home 
to  do  fossil  hunting,"  his  uncle  reminded  him. 
"  I  remember  once  I  was  talking  to  a  group  of 
young  fellows  in  New  York,  bright  working  lads, 
and  one  of  them  said  to  me: 

"  '  Oh,  Professor,  if  only  those  Wyoming- 
Texas  places  you  talk  about  weren't  so  far  away! 
I'd  mighty  well  like  to  do  something  like  fossil- 
hunting  on  Sunday  afternoons  and  holidays,  but 
there  isn't  any  chance.' 

"  'Nonsense,'  I  said  to  him, '  there  are  the  Pali- 
sadesj  right  across  the  river  from  your  home. 
You  can  get  there  for  a  nickel  and  a  half  an  hour's 
ride.  I  miss  my  guess  if  that  isn't  a  good  fossil- 
hunting  ground.' 


272       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Less  than  a  month  after  that,  Perry,  the  fa- 
mous skeleton  of  a  Phytosaurus  was  taken  out  of 
those  very  rocks." 

"  By  one  of  those  chaps?  " 

"  By  a  group  of  Columbia  College  boys,"  was 
the  reply.  "  They  were  interested  in  geology 
and  had  gone  over  there  one  Saturday  to  do  a 
little  field  work  '  on  their  own.'  Getting  hungry, 
they  sat  down  on  a  flat  rock  to  eat  lunch,  and  while 
lunching,  one  of  them  noticed  some  brownish  stain 
on  the  rock.  Half  idly,  he  said: 

"  '  This  looks  like  a  vertebra!' 

"  One  of  the  others  laughed,  but  the  third,  ex- 
amining the  stains,  suggested : 

"  '  It  might  be  bone,  at  that.  Let's  take  a  bit 
home  and  find  out !  ' 

"  But  when  they  tried  to  chip  it  out  they  found 
the  bone  as  hard  as  the  rock.  Still,  they  got  a 
small  piece  and  tested  it  in  the  laboratory  for 
phosphate,  because  they  knew  that  if  the  sample 
were  rich  in  phosphate  it  must  have  come  from 
some  living  thing.  Sure  enough,  they  found  phos- 
phate and  decided  it  was  bone.  They  telephoned 
to  the  Museum,  and  as  soon  as  our  men  went  to 
the  find,  we  recognized  at  once  that  it  was  part 
of  a  skeleton.  We  chiseled  away  the  rock  and 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     273 

found  what  became  known  as  the  '  Fort  Lee  Rep- 
tile.' " 

"  And  it  was  a  Phytosaurus  f ' '  the  boy  asked. 
"  What  does  a  Phytosaur  look  like?  " 

"  There  were  a  lot  of  different  Phytosaurs, 
Perry,  but  most  of  them  resembled  crocodiles, 
though  more  lizard-like  than  a  modern  crocodile. 
The  Fort  Lee  specimen  was  christened  Rutiodon 
Manhattanensis,  and  it's  the  only  one  of  that  kind 
ever  found." 

"  Wasn't  that  great  for  those  college  chaps!  " 
exclaimed  Perry. 

66  Any  one,  trained  or  untrained,  can  find  fos- 
sils," the  scientist  reminded  him.  "  I  tell  you, 
Perry,  there's  not  a  corner  of  the  United  States 
from  which  a  fellow  couldn't  drive  to  a  fossil-bear- 
ing locality,  and  not  many  places  where  a  fellow 
couldn't  reach  fossils  in  a  day's  walk." 

6  i  You  mean  big  beasts  like  the  giant  reptiles  f  ' ' 

"  Not  only  those,  of  course.  No.  I'm  speak- 
ing about  fossils  of  all  ages.  For  example,  the 
Fort  Lee  Eeptile  was  of  the  Triassic  Period, 
Perry,  so  you  see  he  belongs  to  a  long  time  ago. 

"  In  some  places,  the  rock  deposits  are  marine, 
and  one  might  find  fossil  fishes.  Some  rocks  were 
deposited  near  great  forests  and  one  might  only 


274       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

find  fossil  leaves  and  ferns,  with,  perhaps,  primi- 
tive insects  something  like  dragon-flies,  called 
Meganeura,  a  foot  and  a  half  long.  In  many 
places  the  rocks  hold  sea  creatures  from  five  to 
fifteen  million  years  old.  If  every  youngster  in 
the  United  States  would  look  around  for  fossils 
when  he  got  the  chance,  we'd  probably  find  more 
new  species  in  a  year  than  we  find  now  in  ten 
years. 

"  I  wish  I  had  the  opportunity  that  school- 
teachers have  in  country  schools!  There  isn't  a 
little  red  schoolhouse  in  all  the  country  that 
couldn't  have  a  splendid  local  museum,  if  only  the 
boys  would  get  together." 

"  I'll  get  a  gang  together  just  as  soon  as  I  get 
back,"  cried  Perry. 

"  Do  that,"  said  the  professor,  "  tramp  the 
banks  of  streams  and  railroad  cuttings,  every- 
where that  the  soil  has  been  cut  away.  First  thing 
you  know,  you'll  drop  on  some  rare  prize  that 
science  might  never  have  heard  of  otherwise." 

"  All  right,  Uncle  George,"  said  the  lad,  "I'll 
remember  that  and  I'll  see  if  I  can't  get  a  Mas- 
todon for  our  little  museum  out  of  Jackson's 
Swamp.  How  about  a  Mammoth!  Could  I  get 
one  there,  too?  " 


MARCH  OF  THE  MASTODONS     275 

"Not  so  likely, "  was  the  scientist's  answer. 
"  The  Mammoth  only  came  south  with  the  ice 
sheet.  He  was  distinctly  a  winter-loving  beast. 
That's  why  we  have  better  fossils  of  the  Mam- 
moth than  of  any  creature.  Explorers  have  found 
him  mummied  and  almost  whole,  the  entire  car- 
cass frozen  stiff  and  preserved  with  the  hide  and 
flesh.  Two  complete  specimens  were  found  in  Si- 
beria and  only  a  few  years  ago  (1908)  one  of  our 
museum  men  secured  the  larger  part  of  a  carcass, 
with  hide  and  hair,  from  the  edge  of  the  frozen 
tundra  in  Alaska." 

"  What's  the  difference  between  Mammoths  and 
Mastodons?  " 

"  Teeth,"  was  the  succinct  reply.  "  The  Mas- 
todons had  chopping  teeth,  the  Mammoths  had 
grinding  teeth.  You  can  tell  them  apart  at  once. 
The  tusks  of  the  Mastodon  were  more  often 
straight,  those  of  the  Mammoth  frequently  curved 
inward. ' ' 

"  Which  was  the  bigger?  " 

"  The  biggest  of  the  Mastodons  was  heavier 
than  the  biggest  of  the  Mammoths,  but  more 
stockily  built.  The  Mammoth  was  taller.  The 
most  imposing  of  them  all  was  the  Imperial  Mam- 
moth of  North  America,  thirteen  feet  six  inches 


276       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

at  the  shoulder,  with  huge  incurving  tusks.  But 
if  it  came  to  fighting,  I  would  place  my  faith  on 
the  American  Mastodon. " 

66  A  scrap  between  those  two  would  be  worth 
watching,"  cried  Perry,  his  eyes  sparkling. 

"  They  wouldn't  be  likely  to  meet,"  said  his 
uncle ;  ' '  one  lived  in  the  north  on  the  frozen  plains, 
the  other  preferred  warmer  climates  and  forested 
lands." 

"  Talking  of  fighting,  I  was  in  the  Museum  the 
other  day,"  said  Perry,  "  when  a  terrific  thunder- 
storm came  up,  and  it  got  almost  as  dark  in  there 
as  if  it  were  night.  A  terrific  flash  of  lightning 
came,  and  in  the  blaze,  I  had  a  sudden  start,  as 
though  one  of  the  skeletons  had  moved,  The 
crash  of  thunder  that  followed  seemed  like  a  thou- 
sand beasts  roaring  all  together.  And  I  had  a 
quick  feeling  of  wonder  as  to  what  would  happen 
if  all  those  monsters  should  suddenly  become  alive 
and  start  ructions  with  each  other." 

"  It  would  be  exciting,  certainly,"  said  the  pro- 
fessor. 

"I'd  want  my  camera,"  rejoined  Perry  eagerly. 

"  Would  you? "  said  the  professor.  "  I'd 
run!" 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

THE  MAMMOTH  TUSK  HE  FOUND. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

UNCOVERING  A  FROZEN 

Scene  on  Museum  expedition  to  Alaska,  where",  Tieaf  . 

a  carcass  was  found,  with  some  skin,  masses  of  hair  and  wool, 
and  of  flesh  and  fat  preserved.     Note  heavy 
,    mosquito  veil  worn  by  excavator. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   THREE-TOED    HORSE 

"  WHICH  it's  none  o'  my  funeral,"  said  a  voice 
over  Antoine 's  shoulder,  as  lie  stood  on  the  plat- 
form of  a  small  station  in  Wyoming,  waiting  for 
Perry's  arrival,  "  an'  if  you  turns  me  down  cold, 
I  won't  shoot  none,  but  what  in  thunder  do  you 
want  with  a  buck-eyed,  fly-eaten  pinto  like  that?  " 

"  To  ride  him,"  said  Antoine,  laconically. 

The  cow-puncher  snorted. 

i  '  Eide  him !  Why,  pard,  I  Ve  seen  horned  toads 
that  could  wiggle  their  legs  a  tarnation  sight  faster, 
an'  any  self-respectin'  Gila  Monster  c'd  beat  him 
at  a  beauty  show.  Which  I  ain't  criticizin'  none, 
you  understand,  I'm  just  expressin'  my  feelin's." 

Antoine  looked  quietly  at  the  broncho  beside 
which  the  cowboy  was  standing. 

"  I  would  not  enter  yours  at  a  beauty  show," 
he  retorted. 

"  An'  I  s'pose  you'd  be  ekally  scornful  about 
him  in  a  race?  You  might  like  to  make  a  little 
bet  on  it?  " 

277 


278       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  No,  no,"  Antoine  replied.  "  I  would  not  bet 
against  him  in  a  race.  He  would  run  too  well." 

* '  What  makes  you  opine  he  can  run  ?  ' 

11  I  know  he  can  run,"  the  young  paleontologist 
answered.  ' t  He  must  run.  A  horse  with  a  pelvis 
placed  as  high  as  that,  small  body  well  tucked  in, 
and  those  long,  sloping  pasterns  must  be  a  racer. 
There  is  Arabian  blood  in  that  horse." 

The  cowboy  deftly  rolled  a  cigarette  with  one 
hand  and  eyed  the  speaker  with  considerable  re- 
spect. 

"  This  is  pre-cisely  the  nine-millionth  time  IVe 
acted  like  a  locoed  mule,"  he  admitted  with  can- 
dor. "  I  had  you  all  doped  out  as  tenderfoot, 
an'  when  it  comes  to  pony  talk,  you're  holdin'  a 
straight  flush  against  my  pair  o'  deuces." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  am  a  tenderfoot,  as  you  call  it," 
admitted  Antoine,  "  that  is,  I  have  never  been 
in  this  part  of  the  country  before." 

11  Then  how,  in  the  name  of  a  pea-green,  six- 
toothed  rattle-snake,  did  you  get  the  inside  rail 
on  this  little  bronc'  o'  mine?  ' 

"  That  is  quite  easy,"  the  young  paleontologist 
answered.  ' i  One  of  the  things  that  I  know  is  the 
bones  of  a  horse.  You  can  tell  a  plow  horse  from 
a  cow-pony?  " 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      279 

"  They  don't  make  any  liquor  with  kick  enough 
in  it  to  make  me  that  blind, ' '  was  the  reply. 

"  Yet  the  only  difference  is  that  the  bones  of 
one  are  heavier  than  those  of  the  other,"  Antoine 
remarked.  "  My  eye  is  more  trained  to  small  dif- 
ferences than  yours,  that  is  all.  You  know 
horses?  " 

"  In  straight  cow-country  fashion,  I  ain't  no 
slouch, "  the  range-rider  declared.  "I  c'n  pick 
the  best  pony  out  of  a  jammed  corral  quicker  'n  a 
scared  jack-rabbit  c'n  make  three  jumps." 

"  How  do  you  tell?  " 

The  other  thought  for  a  moment. 

"  I  jest  takes  a  look  at  'em  an'  knows  right 
off,"  he  answered.  "  A  real  cow-pony  shapes  up 
right." 

"  But  the  shape  is  merely  muscle  and  skin  over 
the  bones,"  the  other  reminded  him.  "  Suppose 
the  skeletons  of  half  a  dozen  horses  were  all 
mixed  up  in  a  heap,  you  couldn't  put  them  to- 
gether? " 

"  I  pass,"  was  the  reply.  "  Which  I've  never 
made  what  you  might  call  a  side-partner  of  a  skele- 
ton." 

The  paleontologist  smiled. 

"  I  have,"  he  said.     "  I  have  spent  many  years 


a8o       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

with  skeletons  as  my  best  friends.  It  is  my 
'  game,'  as  you  call  it." 

"  How's  that?  " 

"  You  round  up  the  cattle  that  are  alive,  I  round 
up  the  animals  that  are  dead,  that  have  heen  dead 
millions  of  years.  I  dig  them  out  of  the  rocks 
where  they  are  buried." 

"  Oh,  I  sagatiate!  "  the  cowboy  exclaimed,  nod- 
ding his  head  comprehendingly,  "  you're  a  bone- 
hunter!  There's  a  bunch  of  'em  out  the  other  side 
of  Blue  Goose  Gully." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  the  young  scientist  answered, "  I'm 
one  of  that  *  bunch.'  " 

"  Now  I've  got  your  brand,"  the  range-rider 
declared,  with  satisfaction.  u  You  don't  hold 
nothin'  against  me,  pard,  for  not  bein'  wise?  " 

"  No,  no,  of  course  not,"  Antoine  retorted, 
"  why  should  I?  " 

"  Havin'  made  myself  look  like  a  tumble-weed 
for  sense,"  said  the  other,  with  an  air  of  self- 
disgust,  "  I  got  to  get  square.  But  I  opine  I  c'n 
break  even  with  you,  after  all." 

"  How's  that?  " 

The  cowboy  lighted  a  cigarette  from  the  ashes 
of  his  former  one,  and  began: 

"  'Bout  a  couple  o'  weeks  ago,  when  I  was 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      281 

ridin'  down  a  maverick  heifer  that  wanted  to  take 
a  bite  out  o'  the  horizon,  I  turned  the  corner  of 
a  draw,  an'  right  over  my  head  was  the  skull  o' 
some  kind  of  critter,  skull  an'  a  hoof.  Which  I 
ain't  superstitious  none,  but  it  did  look  like  that 
ornery  critter  was  walkin'  out  o'  the  rock  to  chase 
me,  same  as  I  was  chasin  the  heifer." 

Antoine  turned  eagerly,  but  the  rumble  of  the 
incoming  train  drowned  his  answer,  and,  a  moment 
later,  Perry  jumped  out,  all  enthusiasm  and  ex- 
citement. He  rushed  up  to  his  friend. 

' '  You  here,  Antoine !  Oh,  bully !  The  profes- 
sor hadn't  told  me  that  you  were  one  of  the 
party!  " 

Antoine  replied  with  equally  cordial  greetings, 
for  the  two  had  remained  good  friends  ever  since 
the  Fayum  trip  and  had  corresponded  occasionally. 
Then  the  young  paleontologist,  turning  to  his  new- 
made  cowboy  acquaintance,  said  as  an  introduc- 
tion : 

"  Meet  another  *  bone-hunter,'  won't  you? 
This  is  Perry  Hunt." 

"  Put  it  there!  "  said  the  Westerner,  reaching 
out  his  hand.  "  '  Bound -up  Dick,'  they  call  me  on 
the  range." 

"  Fine,"  said  the  boy,  shaking  hands  heartily. 


282       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  I've  always  wanted  to  know  a  real  cowboy. 
You  are  one,  aren't  you?  " 

The  lad 's  interest  was  so  genuine  and  so  thor- 
oughly boyish  that  the  range-rider  smiled  broadly. 
He  seldom  smiled,  but  his  weather-beaten  face 
brightened  marvelously  when  he  did  so. 

"  I've  punched  cattle  since  I  was  a  shaver  seven 
years  old,"  Eound-up  Dick  answered,  "  an'  I'm 
hopin'  to  wear  spurs  as  long  as  there's  a  town- 
ship o '  range  without  barbed  wire. ' ' 

"  When  your  train  came  in,  Perry,"  put  in  An- 
toine,  eager  not  to  lose  the  chance  of  learning 
more  about  a  possible  fossil  find,  "  I  was  just 
hearing  about  a  bone  outcrop." 

He  turned  to  the  range-rider. 

"  Won't  you  tell  me  some  more  about  that?  " 
he  asked. 

"  I  was  remarkin',"  the  cow-puncher  repeated, 
"  that  up  to  the  head  o'  No  Wood  Draw,  as  I 
was  eatin'  dust  to  try  an'  head  off  a  maverick 
heifer  that  was  headed  for  China,  I  run  across  a 
critter  that  looked  as  if  it  had  been  buried  in  the 
rock  an'  was  just  workin'  its  way  out.  It  was 
standin'  straight  up  like  as  it  was  alive.  I  c'd 
nigh  have  touched  the  hoof  with  my  hands  as  I 
rode  by." 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      283 

"  How  big?  "  the  boy  queried  eagerly. 

The  Westerner  looked  at  the  boy's  enthusiastic 
face  and  repeated  his  slow  smile. 

"  The  mere  idee  gits  you  all  worked  up,  son, 
doesn't  it!"  he  said.  "  You  looks  like  Hard 
Mouth  Bill  when  he  first  prospects  a  faro  lay-out 
after  a  couple  o'  months  on  the  range.  How  big, 
you  asks?  'Bout  as  big  as  a  yearling.'* 

"  What  did  it  look  like?  " 

' '  Looked  same  as  any  bones  would.  Hold  up 
your  cards  a  minute!  "  The  speaker  knitted  his 
brows  in  perplexity.  "  Which  I'm  seemin'  to  re- 
member I  did  see  three  toes." 

"  Size  of  a  yearling!    Three  toes!  " 

The  lad  turned  to  his  comrade  in  wild  excite- 
ment. 

"  Oh,  Antoine,"  he  said,  "  that  must  be  a  Meso- 
hippus,  the  three-toed  horse!  " 

The  cowboy  listened  in  astonishment. 

"  Say  them  words  over  slow,"  put  in  Eound-up 
Dick.  "  Did  you  remark  a  three-toed  horse — a 
bronc'  with  three  hoofs  on  each  foot?  " 

"  Sure,"  said  Perry,  "  why  not?  There  are 
horses  with  four  toes,  too." 

"  Which  I've  got  a  pressin'  appointment  at 
another  part  o'  the  range,"  said  Kound-up  Dick, 


284       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  an'  my  pardner'll  be  madder 'n  a  Greaser 
cheated  out  of  a  cock-fight  if  I  don't  adorn  the 
landscape  in  his  vicinity,  but  I'm  tellin'  you  right 
now  that  if  there's  any  chance  o'  that  critter  bein' 
a  three-toed  horse,  I'll  point  this  bronc's  head  for 
that  spot  an'  heat  up  that  trail  like  it  was  bein' 
fried.  Will  you  ride?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  Antoine.  "  But,  Mr.  Bound- 
up  Dick,  it  may  not  be  a  three-toed  horse,  it  may 
be  a  rhinoceros." 

The  cowboy  looked  at  him  for  a  moment,  first 
with  a  puzzled  air,  and  then  with  disgust. 

"  Now  I  got  the  drop  on  the  fact  that  you're 
playin'  me  along,"  he  said  sourly,  rolling  another 
cigarette.  "  You  c'n  call  it  a  nine-legged  giraffe, 
if  you  like.  For  a  minute  there  I  thought  you 
was  playin'  with  a  straight  deck." 

The  Belgian  looked  puzzled  at  the  phrase,  but 
Perry  burst  out  indignantly: 

"  We  are  playing  with  a  straight  deck,  Dick," 
he  said.  "  There  was  a  rhinoceros  about  the  size 
of  a  big  ram,  and  it  had  three  toes,  like  all  rhinoc- 
eroses have,  and  there  were  hundreds  of  them  on 
the  plains  a  million  years  ago." 

The  cowboy  looked  at  him  shrewdly. 

"  You  sound  some  like  a  Sioux  medicine  man 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE       285 

after  a  dose  o'  fire-water, "  he  said,  "  but  I've  got 
a  trustin'  nature,  an'  maybe  I'll  play  the  hand 
out  after  all.  You're  willin'  to  swear  that  there 
was  a  critter  o'  that  kind?  " 

i"  Word  of  honor,"  said  the  boy. 

"  I'm  satisfied,"  the  other  replied,  "  I'm  always 
willin'  to  gamble  an'  I  push  in  my  stack  o'  chips. 
If  that  critter  I  saw  is  what  you're  romancin' 
about,  I'll  lay  one  over  on  old  Doc  Gumshoe  so 
heavy  that  he  won't  ever  have  the  nerve  to 
talk  again.  I'll  make  him  look  like  a  paralyzed 
stingin'  lizard.  A  rhino  a  million  years  old! 
Gents,  let  us  amble  forth!  " 

And,  putting  one  toe  in  the  stirrup,  Eound-up 
Dick  floated  into  the  saddle,  while  the  broncho  be- 
gan to  pirouette  on  his  hind  legs. 

"  We'd  better  follow  him  while  he  is  in  the  mood 
to  guide  us,"  said  Antoine  hurriedly  to  the  boy. 
"  Here's  your  pony,  Perry.  I'll  tell  the  station 
agent  to  look  after  your  baggage  till  we  get  back. ' ' 

Perry  swung  into  the  saddle  and  loped  up  be- 
side the  cowboy,  whose  pony  was  dancing  around 
while  Kound-up  Dick  sat  quite  unconcerned. 

"  You're  sure  a  rider,  Dick,"  the  lad  said  ad- 
miringly. "  I  wish  I  could  sit  a  bucking  horse 
like  that!" 


286       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  This  is  no  buckin  V  the  other  answered,  "  it's 
jest  a  little  playfulness.  No  graveyard  plug  for 
mine,  thanks.  Where's  your  side-partner!  " 

"  Coming  right  now,"  answered  Perry,  as  An- 
toine  came  round  the  end  of  the  depot  at  a  smart 
pace. 

Eound-up  Dick  gave  a  whoop,  loosed  his  reins, 
and  the  broncho  broke  into  a  full  run.  The  other 
two  horses  followed,  and  Perry,  wild  with  delight, 
found  that  the  queer-looking  pinto  that  Antoine 
had  brought  for  him  was  well  able  to  keep  up  with 
the  others.  If  anything,  it  was  a  trifle  faster  than 
his  comrade's  mount,  though  the  cowboy's  mare 
undoubtedly  had  the  better  stride.  After  a  few 
minutes  of  the  swift  pace,  the  town  was  out  of 
sight,  and  Kound-up  Dick  pulled  his  pony  down 
to  a  loping  gait. 

"  You  said  a  million  years!  "  he  queried. 

"  Three  million  would  be  nearer  the  mark,"  the 
lad  replied. 

"  You  chuck  millions  o'  years  around  like  a 
sport  would  chuck  dimes  to  a  bunch  o'  Greaser 
kiddies,"  he  remarked.  "  Jest  drive  a  shaft  into 
this  thick  skull  o'  mine  an'  show  me  how  you  c'n 
tell  about  three-toed  horses  an'  the  rest  o'  the 
layout." 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      287 

Perry  looked  at  Antoine,  but  the  young  paleon- 
tologist replied,  in  answer  to  the  look : 

"  You  tell  him,  Perry,  you  can  make  it  plainer 
than  I  can." 

The  boy  pulled  his  ear  meditatively. 

"All  right,  Antoine,"  he  said,  "  I'll  do  my 
best." 

He  turned  to  the  range-rider,  and  began  to  ex- 
plain how  the  rocks  were  made,  either  by  deposits 
under  the  sea,  or  by  the  mud  carried  down  by 
rivers,  or  at  the  bottoms  of  lakes,  or  by  dust  car- 
ried in  large  quantities  by  the  wind,  or  by  ashes 
from  volcanic  eruptions.  He  showed  that  differ- 
ent kinds  of  animals  lived  at  various  ages,  and 
since  they  all  had  to  die,  the  skeleton  of  one  kind 
would  be  found  in  one  layer  of  rock,  of  another, 
in  a  different  formation. 

"  Look  here,  Dick,"  he  continued,  thinking  out 
some  way  to  make  the  idea  clear,  "  suppose  for 
a  minute  that  you  were  a  carver,  whittling  toy 
animals  out  of  wood.  We  '11  suppose  that  the  thing 
you  like  to  carve  best  is  a  horse." 

"  Happens  that  I  do  whittle,"  said  the  cow- 
boy, "an'  you  hit  the  bull's-eye  first  time — what  I 
like  best  to  whittle  is  ponies." 

"  Good,"  said  Perry,  feeling  that  his  illustra- 


288       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

tion  would  carry  successfully.  "  My  next  '  sup- 
posing '  won't  be  as  easy." 

"  Shoot!  " 

"  Supposing  you  lived  to  he  a  thousand  years 
old." 

"  Don't  expect  to,"  said  Kound-up  Dick;  "  still, 
I  c'n  pipe-dream  as  good  as  the  next  man.  All 
right,  I'm  goin'  to  live  a  thousand  years.  I'm 
to  be  whittlin'  steady  all  the  time?  " 

"  All  the  time,"  said  the  boy. 

"  I'd  be  neck-deep  in  shavin's,"  said  the  rider. 

"  Fine,"  said  Perry,  "  that  was  just  the  idea 
I  wanted  you  to  get.  Now,  we'll  suppose  that 
when  you  started  whittling  you  had  a  jack-knife, 
a  good  one,  of  course,  sharp  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  but  still  a  jack-knife.  And  we'll  suppose 
that  the  only  kind  of  wood  you  could  get  hold  of 
was  pine." 

"  Pine  an'  a  jack-knife,"  agreed  the  cowboy. 
"  I've  got  your  trail  so  far." 

"  You  whittled  these  horses  out  of  pine  with  a 
jack-knife  for  two  hundred  years  straight  ahead," 
suggested  Perry,  "  and  any  one  of  them  that 
you  didn't  think  good  enough  you  chucked  on  the 
floor,  where  it  soon  got  buried  by  the  shavings 
that  came  showering  down.  Don't  forget,  Dick, 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      289 

you're  working  like  a  son  of  a  gun  all  this  time." 

"  Don't  I  ever  get  a  day  off  for  a  bust-up?  " 
queried  Dick. 

"  Never/'  the  boy  replied. 

"  Say,  pard,"  the  range-rider  protested,  "  don't 
ride  a  good  horse  to  death,  even  in  a  pipe- 
dream!  " 

Perry  laughed  and  continued: 

"  After  you  had  whittled  straight  ahead  for  two 
hundred  years,  you'd  have  a  pile  of  shavings. 
The  only  way  that  you  could  handle  them  would 
be  to  stamp  them  down,  every  once  a  while,  and, 
if  the  roof  leaked,  the  shavings  would  get  wet  when 
it  rained  and  cake  down  on  the  floor  pretty  solidly. 
Maybe,  after  a  couple  of  hundred  years,  you'd 
get  a  solid  layer  of  trampled  shavings  and  dust 
about  a  foot  thick.  And  scattered  through  this 
layer  would  be  all  the  poor  carvings  that  you 
hadn't  thought  worth  saving.  You  get  that  idea 
all  right?  " 

' '  Pat  hand, ' '  agreed  the  cowboy.    ' '  Go  ahead. ' ' 

"  Then  at  the  end  of  the  two  hundred  years,  a 
chap  comes  along  and  looks  at  your  work.  He 
thinks  it's  fine,  but  tells  you  that  pine  is  so  soft 
and  the  grain  is  so  big  that  you  can't  carve  the 
horses  as  delicately  as  you'd  like.  He  shows  you 


290       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

how  oak  would  be  a  heap  better.  So  you  get  hold 
of  some  oak  and  start  whittling  with  oak." 

"  For  another  two  hundred  years?  " 

"  Yes,"  agreed  Perry.  "  Because  the  wood  is 
harder  and  your  knife  is  getting  blunt — " 

"  Lead  me  to  a  knife  that'll  whittle  steady  for 
two  hundred  years !  Why,  Bub,  it  would  have  to 
be  a  diamond!  But  I  forgot,  we  were  just  '  sup- 
posinV  " 

"  An'  while  you're  doing  the  best  you  can  with 
that  blunt  knife,"  the  lad  went  on,  "  a  fellow 
comes  along  and  tells  you  that  you'll  do  a  lot 
better  if  you  use  a  chisel  instead  of  a  jack-knife. 
So  you  buy  a  chisel  from  this  chap,  and  go  ahead 
with  your  work.  Now  the  chips  from  the  chisel 
are  going  to  be  a  little  different  from  the  shav- 
ings you  made  with  the  jack-knife,  but  they'll  be 
oak  shavings  still.  Then,  too,  Dick,  the  oak  be- 
ing so  much  harder  than  the  pine,  you'll  only 
have  half  as  many  shavings,  so  it'll  take  all  of  the 
four  hundred  years,  two  hundred  with  the  jack- 
knife  and  two  hundred  with  the  chisel,  to  make 
another  trampled-down  layer  of  shavings  a  foot 
thick." 

"  I  see  how  you're  headin',"  said  the  cowboy, 
nodding  wisely,  "  an'  in  the  lower  six  inches  o' 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      291 

that  oak  stuff  will  be  animals  I  whittled  with  the 
knife,  and  in  the  top  half,  the  ones  I  worked  out 
with  the  chisel.  Is  that  the  idee?  " 

"  To  a  hair!"  exclaimed  Perry.  "By  now 
you're  making  corking  good  carvings — " 

"  I'd  be  a  looney  if  I  didn't,  after  six-hundred- 
years'  tryin',"  the  cowboy  interrupted. 

"  And  then  along  comes  another  man." 

"  Busy  trail  that,"  Round-up  Dick  put  in,  who 
was  obviously  enjoying  the  tale  thoroughly, 
"  that's  three  men  in  six  hundred  years.  Not 
what  you'd  call  crowded!  What  brilliant  idee 
did  this  stranger  have?  ' 

"  Boxwood,"  answered  the  boy,  "  harder  than 
oak.  And  for  the  next  two  hundred  years  you 
worked  in  boxwood." 

He  paused. 

"An'  after  that?  "  queried  Eound-up  Dick. 

"  Then  you  take  a  rest,"  the  boy  suggested. 

"  I  thought  I  had  somethin'  comin',"  the  range- 
rider  declared,  with  mock  relief  in  his  voice. 
"  Painted  Pinto!  Wouldn't  I  make  a  town  hum 
after  eight  hundred  years  without  a  blow-out! 
An'  what  happens  after  I'm  gone?  Another  man 
comes,  eh?  Don't  get  reckless  with  your  popula- 
tion, Bub!" 


292       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Not  a  stranger  this  time,"  Perry  went  on, 
"  but  a  cyclone." 

"  Which  I'm  feelin'  grateful  you  let  me  get 
away  first." 

"  This  is  a  real  cyclone,"  the  boy  continued, 
i '  and  we  '11  suppose  that  it  tore  the  shanty  in  half, 
cutting  it  clean  across  the  floor,  the  way  cyclones 
often  do,  taking  half  of  it  away  in  a  cloud  of 
dust,  but  leaving  half  of  it  as  straight  cut  as 
though  you'd  passed  a  knife  through  a  layer 
cake." 

"  And  I  returns  to  that  scene  of  desolation?  ' 

"  You  do,"  Perry  assented.  "  And  there  you 
see  the  half  of  the  shanty  and  the  floor,  which  is 
in  three  layers,  the  bottom  one  of  pine  shavings, 
the  next  one  of  oak,  and  the  top  one  of  boxwood. 
Then,  since  you  remember  how  you  used  to  work, 
you  know  that  there  are  pine  animals  carved  with 
a  jack-knife  in  the  bottom  layer,  oak  animals 
carved  with  a  jack-knife  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
oak  layer,  oak  animals  carved  with  a  chisel  in 
the  top  part  of  that  layer,  and  boxwood  animals 
in  the  top  boxwood  layer." 

Antoine  nodded  his  head  approvingly. 

1 '  That  is  a  very  good  figure, ' '  he  said, t  '  I  think 
Mr.  Eound-up  Dick  can  follow  that." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

FINDING  THE  EOHIPPUS 

The  Wasatch  formation,  in  the  Bad  Lands  of  Wyoming,  in  which 
lie  skeletons  of  the  Dawn  Horse. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.    •<    7T\Ji  .•  • 

EOHIPPUS,  THE  FouR-Totfo  HORSE. 

The  Dawn  Horse,  the  earliest  horse  so  far  kntKvnj  sizfetff  vlarjje  fo: 
adapted  to  low-lying  and  wooded 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      293 

"  Clear  as  the  barrel  of  a  six-shooter  a  foot  from 
your  nose,"  agreed  the  cowboy. 

"  Now,  Dick,"  Perry  went  on,  "  the  real  thing 
was  a  good  deal  that  way.  When  Nature  first 
started  to  make  a  horse,  it  came  out  like  a  four- 
toed  creature  not  much  bigger  than  a  fox.  The 
rocks  that  Nature  was  making  at  that  time,  which 
we  call  Lower  Eocene,  we  can  liken  to  the  pine 
shavings.  So  you  see,  wherever  you  find  Lower 
Eocene  rocks  you're  likely  to  find  skeletons  of 
that  little  four-toed  horse,  just  the  same  way  as 
any  place  in  that  layer  of  pine  shavings  you'd 
be  apt  to  find  the  horses  whittled  out  of  pine.  We 
call  that  horse  an  Eohippus." 

"  That's  a  whole  lot  of  handle  for  a  critter  no 
bigger 'n  a  fox!  " 

"  '  Hippus  '  means  '  horse,'  and  *  eo  '  means 
'  dawn,' "  explained  the  boy,  "  so  the  Eohippus 
is  the  Dawn  Horse,  or  the  Dawn  of  the  Horse." 

The  cowboy  rolled  a  cigarette. 

"  Which  I'm  admirin'  your  lay-out  a  heap,"  he 
said,  "  you've  sure  got  a  double  cinch-strap  on 
that  horse  stuff." 

"  I  ought  to  have,"  said  Perry,  "  it's  what  I 
want  to  work  at,  though  I  haven't  had  much  chance 
in  the  field  yet.  Well,"  he  continued,  "  after  a 


294       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

few  hundred  thousand  years  had  gone  by,  Nature 
improved  on  the  horse.  She  found  she  could  make 
a  better  horse,  if  he  was  a  little  bigger,  and  that 
he  could  run  quicker  on  three  toes  than  on  four. 
So  in  the  next  layer  of  rocks,  which  we  call  Oligo- 
cene,  and  which  we  can  liken  to  the  lower  layer 
of  the  oak  shavings,  you're  apt  to  find  skeletons 
of  that  three-toed  horse,  which  is  called  Mesohip- 
pus,  same  as  you'd  find  a  knife-whittled  oak  horse 
in  the  lower  layer  of  oak  shavings." 

"  And '  Meso-hippus  '  means  a  '  what-horse  91  " 
queried  Eound-up  Dick,  remembering  that  '  hip- 
pus  '  was  a  '  horse.' 

"  A  middle-horse,"  the  boy  answered, "  halfway 
between  the  dawn  horse  and  the  modern  horse." 

"  Deal  again,"  said  the  cowboy. 

"  Another  few  hundred  thousand  years  went 
by,  a  different  series  of  rocks  came  and  Nature 
again  improved  on  the  horse.  She  saw  that  he 
would  be  better  if  he  were  still  larger,  and  swifter 
if  only  one  toe  reached  the  ground.  So  in  the 
next  layer,  which  corresponds,  Dick,  with  the  top 
part  of  the  layer  of  oak  shavings,  we  find  a  horse 
called  the  Protohippus.  He  had  three  toes,  but 
only  one  of  them  touched  the  ground,  the  other 
two  hung  useless  on  either  side." 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

FINDING  THE  MESOHIPPUS. 

The  Oreodon  formation,  in  South  Dakota,  with  the  Museum 
expedition  in  the  foreground. 


of  American  Museum  of  Natural  Hist 

MESOHIPPUS,  THE  THREE-TOED^  K 
The  swifter  Middle  Horse,  the  size  of  a  coyote,  adapted  for  hard 
ground  ;  threateningly  watched  from  a  distance  by  Dinictis, 
the  light-limbed  sabre-tooth  cat. 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      295 

The  range-rider  nodded  sagaciously. 

"  An'  what's  the  face  value  o'  '  Proto-hip- 
pus  '  ?  "  he  queried. 

Perry  puzzled  for  a  moment. 

"  The  '  Before-Horse/  I  suppose;  it's  really  al- 
most a  true  horse." 

"  An'  the  boxwood  layer  is  the  ponies  o'  to- 
day? " 

"  No,  Dick,"  said  the  boy.  "  The  next  layer, 
which  the  geologists  would  call  Pleistocene,  has 
true  horses,  with  a  single  hoof,  and  with  the  other 
two  toes  reduced  to  small  splints  of  bone  that 
don't  appear  outside  the  skin.  These  are  called 
horses.  There  were  vast  herds  of  them  roaming 
over  the  plains." 

"An'  this  little  bronc,"  said  Kound-up  Dick, 
slapping  his  pony's  neck,  "  has  come  down  from 
them,  eh?  " 

"  No,"  answered  Perry.  "  All  the  American 
horses  went  out,  bang!  "Why,  no  one  knows." 

"  Where  did  we  get  the  broncs,  then?  " 
"From  the  Spaniards  and  early  colonists  of 
America." 

The  cowboy  looked  incredulous. 

"  How  about  the  Indian  mustang!  " 

"  Same  thing,"  asserted  Perry. 


296       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Then  what  did  the  Indians  ride  on  before  the 
Spaniards  came?  " 

"  They  didn't  ride." 

The  cowboy  turned  to  Antoine  for  confirmation, 
and  the  young  paleontologist  nodded  in  support 
of  Perry's  assertion. 

"  Yes,  yes,  he  is  right,  Mr.  Eound-up  Dick," 
he  answered.  "  The  Indians  did  not  have  horses 
before  the  white  man  came.  You  will  remember 
that  even  among  the  Sioux,  all  their  early  means 
of  transport  was  with  a  dog  travois,  two  poles 
dragging  along  the  ground.  When  the  Sioux  did 
get  horses,  they  merely  made  a  longer  travois." 

"  What  killed  off  all  the  horses?  " 

"It's  a  mystery,"  Perry  answered,  "  no  one 
really  knows.  We've  found  fossils  of  insects  like 
the  tse-tse*fly — that's  the  one  that  causes  sleeping- 
sickness  among  the  cattle  in  Africa — and  maybe 
there  was  a  plague  of  these  flies  which  started  an 
epidemic  that  killed  off  all  the  wild  horses." 

Perry  was  about  to  plunge  into  a  talk  over  the 
different  reasons  why  some  of  the  older  types  of 
animals  became  extinct,  when  suddenly,  the  cow- 
boy gave  a  whoop  and  spurred  his  horse  to  the 
gallop.  As  they  were  riding  down  a  gully,  where 
the  ground  was  very  uneven,  the  boy  was  only 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      297 

too  glad  to  pay  full  attention  to  his  mount.  But 
the  cow  pony,  though  going  at  full  speed,  picked 
his  way  perfectly.  In  full  career,  Eound-up  Dick 
swerved  round  the  corner  of  a  cliff  and  stopped 
dead.  Perry  had  just  time  to  brace  himself 
against  being  thrown  over  his  pony's  head,  when 
the  cowboy,  pointing  with  his  finger,  said: 

"  Give  it  a  handle!  " 

Perry  looked  up. 

There,  standing  out  from  the  cliff  as  though  it 
were  one  of  the  ancient  bulls  of  Assyria,  was  part 
of  the  skull  and  the  foot  of  an  animal,  the  hoof 
pointed  downwards  as  though  the  creature  were 
going  to  gallop  right  out  of  the  cliff. 

Perry  slapped  his  pony's  neck  in  the  exuber- 
ence  of  his  delight  and  had  a  few  moments  of 
unexpected  war-dance. 

"  Antoine!  Antoine!  "  he  cried,  clinging  to  the 
saddle  as  best  he  could,  "  do  you  see  it?  " 

As  the  young  paleontologist  had  been  looking 
at  the  fossil  steadily  all  the  time  that  the  lad's 
pony  was  prancing  around  on  its  hind  legs,  the 
question  was  quite  unnecessary,  but  the  boy  had 
to  blow  off  steam. 

"  It  is  a  Mesohippus!  "  he  cried  excitedly,  "  it 
is,  it  is,  it  is!  " 


298       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Antoine  shook  his  head.. 

"  It  is  a  Hyrachyus,"  he  said.  Then,  turning 
to  the  cowboy,  he  continued,  "  this  is  the  three- 
toed  rhinoceros  that  I  told  you  about,  Mr.  Bound- 
up  Dick.  And,"  he  added,  his  eyes  kindling,  "  it 
may  be  a  perfect  specimen. " 

"A  Hyrachyus!  "  chanted  the  boy.  "G-ee! 
What  a  find!" 

The  cowboy  shifted  impatiently  in  his  saddle. 

"  Let's  see  the  color  o'  the  cards,"  he  said. 

Antoine  shook  his  feet  free  of  the  stirrups,  and 
with  an  ease  that  surprised  the  boy,  raised  him- 
self to  his  feet  on  the  saddle.  Standing,  the  Bel- 
gian could  just  see  into  the  jaw  of  the  skull.  He 
examined  the  teeth  carefully,  then  looked  down 
at  the  two  eager  questioners. 

"  It  is  a  Hyrachyus,"  he  said,  "  an  early  kind 
of  cursorial  rhinoceros.  That  means,  Mr.  Bound- 
up  Dick,  that  he  was  a  rhinoceros  with  light  legs, 
so  that  he  could  gallop  like  a  horse.  If  you  look 
at  the  rock,  you  can  see  that  once  it  was  mud, 
probably  the  bank  of  a  small  river.  From  the 
position  of  the  skeleton — of  course  I  can  see  only 
the  skull  and  foot — the  Hyrachyus  must  have  got 
stuck  and  was  trying  to  pull  his  feet  out.  But 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      299 

lie  was  stuck  fast  then.    That  was  three  million 
years  ago  and  he  is  stuck  fast  still." 

The  cowboy  looked  at  Antoine  with  frank  ad- 
miration. 

"  An'  you  c'n  spot  the  brand  as  quick  as  that !  ' 
he  said.     "  Which  IVe  got  to  admit  that  you  c'n 
call  the  turn  on  me.    What  happened  to  those 
beasts,  since  there  aren't  any  of  'em  on  the  range? 
Flies  get  them,  too?  " 

"  Sabre-tooth  cats  got  them,  I  guess,"  said  the 
boy.  "  Although  the  Hyrachyus  could  run  some, 
with  his  three  toes  he  probably  couldn't  get  away 
from  the  swift  sabre-tooths.  When  you  think 
what  a  rhinoceros  is  like,  Dick,  don't  you  think  it 
was  a  plucky  stunt  for  them  to  get  out  of  the 
swamps  and  try  to  make  good  on  the  plains? 
Plucky,  but  it  didn't  go.  For  all  we  know,  that 
chap  up  there  may  have  been  the  very  last  of  his 
race,  and  he  not  only  died  with  his  boots  on,  but 
died  standing  up,  at  that." 

"  What  do  you  figure  on  doin'  with  the  bones, 
now  you've  got  'em?  " 

"  Cut  them  out,"  declared  Perry. 

"  Eight  out  o'  the  rock?  " 

"  We'll  take  rock  and  all,"  the  boy  explained. 
' '  That  whole  block  of  stone  has  got  to  be  quarried 


300       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

out,  even  if  it  weighs  a  ton.  After  it  has  got  to 
the  museum  workshop  in  New  York,  workmen 
can  spend  several  months  carefully  chipping 
away  the  rock  until  they  get  at  the  bones.  It's 
the  hardest  kind  of  work,  Dick,  and  it  has  to  be 
done  by  experts.  Then,  when  every  littlest  bit 
of  the  .rock  has  been  chiseled  away,  the  bones  have 
to  be  mounted.  We  can  make  complete  skeletons 
when  the  remains  amount  to  at  least  two-thirds  of 
the  animal." 

"  Which  I  don't  yet  hog-tie  the  idee  how  you 
c'n  tell  a  critter  jest  by  his  bones,"  put  in  Round- 
up Dick.  "  You  declares  that  cayuse  in  the  rock 
is  a  rhinoceros  the  size  of  a  sheep.  There  isn't 
nary  a  hide  or  a  bit  o'  wool  to  tell  what  it  looked 
like.  So  far  as  I  can  see  that  could  ha'  been  a 
wolf  the  size  of  a  sheep  or  a  yearlin'  cow  the  size 
of  a  sheep." 

"It  is  easy  to  tell  by  the  teeth,"  answered 
Antoine.  "  Didn't  you  see  me  look  at  the  teeth?  " 

"  I  see  you  was  spottin'  something." 

"  Teeth,"  the  young  paleontologist  answered. 
"  It  wouldn't  be  a  wolf,  Mr.  Eound-up  Dick,  be- 
cause a  wolf  eats  flesh  and  his  teeth  are  made 
sharp  for  tearing.  A  horse  or  a  rhinoceros  lives 
on  grasses  and  plants  and  he  has  flat  teeth  to 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      301 

grind  his  food.  You  can  tell  almost  any  kind  of 
animal  at  once  by  one  tooth,  and  if  you  have  all 
the  teeth  of  the  lower  jaw,  you  can  tell  a  great 
deal  about  the  animal.  Suppose  that  I  found  a 
jaw,  I  could  tell  by  the  teeth  what  food  that  ani- 
mal lived  on.  If  I  knew  what  food  he  ate,  I  could 
tell  whether  he  lived  on  the  plains,  or  in  a  forest 
or  in  a  swamp.  If  he  lived  on  the  plains,  I  would 
know  that  he  must  have  been  able  to  run  fast; 
if  he  was  in  the  forest,  that  he  would  be  heavy; 
if  in  the  swamp  that  he  must  have  been  able  to 
swim.  You  see,  if  I  found  a  jaw  alone,  I  could 
give  you  a  good  idea  of  the  animal." 

The  cowboy  stared  at  him  in  blank  astonish- 
ment. 

1(1  And  in  this  case,"  Antoine  continued,  "  I  can 
see  the  feet  as  well.  And  the  foot  tells  all  about 
the  animal's  habits.  If  I  find  teeth  made  to  crop 
grass,  and  light  feet  made  to  run  quickly  over  the 
grass,  I  do  not  have  to  be  very  clever  to  see  that 
such  an  animal  lives  on  a  grassy  plain.  And  if 
I  find  that  in  one  part  of  the  world  the  animal 
with  teeth  for  eating  grass  did  not  develop  feet 
to  travel  swiftly  with,  while  in  another  part  of 
the  world  it  did,  I  do  not  have  to  think  very  hard 
to  see  that  in  the  place  where  the  animals  did 


302       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

not  become  swift  they  had  no  swift-running  ene- 
mies, while  in  the  other  place  they  did.  So  you 
see,  Mr.  Eound-up  Dick,  where  the  grass-cropping 
animals  had  feet  that  did  not  make  them  swift,  I 
should  not  look  for  swift-running  enemies,  such  as 
the  American  sabre-tooth  tigers." 

1 '  It's  all  so  plumb  easy  when  you  talk,"  said 
the  range-rider,  "  but  I'd  ha'  fought,  bled,  an' 
died  among  a  pile  o'  bones  before  I'd  ever  ha' 
thought  it  out." 

"  Have  you  got  pretty  good  teeth,  Dick?  " 
Perry  asked. 

"  I  c'n  bite  nails,"  the  cowboy  answered. 

"  All  right,"  rejoined  the  boy,  opening  his 
mouth  and  pressing  his  thumb  against  his  teeth. 
"  Suppose  you  count  them.  Begin  in  the  middle. 
You've  got  two  teeth  shaped  like  chisels,  haven't 
you,  and  then  comes  a  sharp  one,  like  the  long 
teeth  of  a  dog?  And  behind  they're  all  fairly 
flat,  eh?" 

"  You  call  the  turn!  " 

"  Now,  Dick,  a  dog  has  three  chisel-shaped  or 
incisor  teeth,  while  a  cow  has  three  in  the  lower 
jaw  and  none  in  the  upper  jaw.  Then  behind  that 
the  dogs  have  jagged  or  sharp-cutting  teeth,  while 
a  cow's  teeth  are  all  more  smooth.  If  Antoine 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      303 

says  that's  a  rhinoceros  type,  it  can't  have  any 
sharp-cutting  teeth  like  those  of  a  dog;  a  rhi- 
noceros doesn't  eat  flesh,  and  so  he  doesn't  need 
flesh-tearing  teeth  to  tear  with.  A  rhinoceros 
browses,  and  so  his  teeth  are  grinders  to  mash  the 
vegetation  to  a  pulp." 

"  That  outbids  my  pile!  "  the  range-rider  ex- 
claimed. "  Which  I've  always  been  able  to  hand 
out  a  pony's  age  by  lookin'  at  his  teeth,  but  when 
it  comes  to  followin'  a  trail  a  million  years  old, 
why,  I  can't  sit  in  for  that  game.  But  as  long  as 
you  like  to  talk  I'll  keep  my  ears  right  up, 
listenin'!" 

Antoine  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  If  we're  going  to  get  to  Blue  Goose  Gully," 
he  said,  "  I  think  we'll  have  to  start.  I've  made 
notes  of  my  bearings." 

"  C'n  you  find  the  place  again?  "  queried  the 
cowboy. 

"Yes,  yes,  easily,"  the  young  paleontologist 
answered.  "It  is  east-south-east  of  that  peak, 
north  and  a  half  west  of  that  butte,  and  due  east 
of  that  rocky  spur.  I  can  ride  straight  to  it  to- 
morrow. ' ' 

"  Smooth  as  a  card-sharp  with  a  stacked  deck," 
declared  the  range-rider.  "  Which  if  you're 


304       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

ridin'  back,  gents,  that's  my  trail,  too,"  and  with- 
out further  word,  he  wheeled  his  pony  and  started 
up  the  gully. 

"  Say,  Dick,"  said  Perry,  half  an  hour  later, 
as  the  station  came  in  sight  in  the  distance,  "  it 
was  bully  of  you  to  come  out  here  and  show  us 
that  Hyrachyus." 

The  cowboy  waved  his  thanks  away  with  a  ges- 
ture, but  the  lad  continued: 

"  I've  been  wondering,  since  youVe  got  so  in- 
terested in  that  tooth  idea,  if  you  wouldn't  like 
one.  If  you  want  to  spin  a  yarn  you  ought  to 
have  something  to  show!  " 

He  put  his  hand  to  his  tie  and  drew  from  it  a 
small  scarf  pin  made  from  a  Zeuglodon  tooth ;  one 
of  those  he  had  picked  up  in  Zeuglodon  Valley 
two  years  before. 

"  Here's  one,"  he  said,  "  of  a  whale  that  lived 
about  three  million  years  ago.  Use  it  for  a  stick- 
pin! " 

"  But,  pard — "  the  cowboy  began. 

"  Never  mind  about  that,  go  ahead,"  urged  the 
boy.  "  If  you  don't  want  to  take  it  any  other 
way,  take  it  just  to  remember  this  ride  by.  Hon- 
estly, I've  got  lots  of  them,  and  you  mightn't 
happen  to  see  one  again." 


THE  THREE-TOED  HORSE      305 

The  lad's  new  friend  protested  vigorously,  but 
it  was  clear  that  the  gift  appealed  to  him,  and, 
just  before  they  reached  the  station,  Perry  over- 
came the  last  of  his  objections.  The  range-rider 
took  the  stick-pin  and  thrust  it  into  the  band  of 
his  sombrero,  taking  particular  delight  in  the 
little  patent  fastener  that  Perry  also  gave  him, 
to  prevent  the  pin  from  flying  out.  He  flourished 
the  sombrero  with  a  *  '  whoop !  ' '  and  started  his 
pony  on  a  series  of  antics  that  would  have  done 
credit  to  a  trick  mule. 

When  Antoine  and  Perry  lost  sight  of  him,  the 
broncho  was  headed  across  the  plains  like  a  dust- 
whirl,  while  the  cowboy's  cheery  "  Adios!  "  rang 
in  their  ears. 


CHAPTER  XI 

UNDER   THE    CLAWS   OF   A  DINOSAUR 

"  IT  seems  as  though  my  coming  had  brought 
good  luck,"  said  Perry,  joyously,  when,  all  the 
baggage  question  settled,  he  started  with  Antoine 
on  the  trail  that  led  to  the  camp  at  Blue  Goose 
Gully. 

"  Yes,  yes,  it  did,"  answered  his  friend.  "  I 
should  not  have  come  into  town  unless  it  had  been 
to  meet  you,  and  it  just  happened  that  Mr.  Bound- 
up  Dick  was  there.  We  would  have  been  most 
unlikely  to  go  to  No  Wood  Draw,  and  if  I  had  not 
met  our  cowboy  friend  that  specimen  of  Hyra- 
chyus  might  have  been  lost  to  science  forever." 

"  I  hope  I  have  that  same  Midas  touch  every- 
where! "  the  lad  rejoined,  exultantly. 

"  Perhaps  yes,  perhaps  no,"  the  other  warned 
him.  "  If  you  find  specimens  too  easily,  you 
will  be  disappointed  when  the  months  go  by  and 
you  discover  nothing.  I  was  very  lucky  on  my 
second  day  here,  but  I  have  not  seen  a  single  good 

306 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       307 

specimen  for  the  last  two  weeks  and  we  are  in 
the  heart  of  the  fossil  country." 

"  Cheer  up,  Antoine,  you  might  drop  on  one 
any  minute!  " 

1  '  It  is  that  which  makes  me  so  eager  for  every 
morning, "  the  young  paleontologist  replied. 
"  Every  day  is  a  new  day  and  is  full  of  promise. 
And  when,  each  day,  I  ride  out  from  the  camp 
to  a  point  in  the  Bad  Lands  where  few  people 
have  been,  and  where  no  white  man  has  ever 
walked,  picket  my  horse  and  start  out  on  foot,  all 
the  spell  of  the  explorer  comes  to  me. 

"  All  around  is  the  utter  silence  and  stillness. 
There  is  no  movement  of  clouds  in  the  deep  blue 
sky,  there  is  no  leaf  to  rustle,  no  sound  of  fall- 
ing water.  The  sharply  carved  rocks,  pink,  red, 
green  and  slate-gray,  quiver  in  the  sunlight. 
There  is  no  sign  of  a  life,  except  perhaps,  a  lizard 
darting  to  his  hole  from  his  basking-place  on  a 
hot  rock,  or  the  black  speck  of  a  buzzard  in  the 
sky. 

"  It  is  in  a  world  so  new  and  strange  as  this 
that  I  am  searching  for  a  world  still  more  new 
and  still  more  strange.  And  then,  Perry,  when, 
in  the  evening,  the  shadows  turn  all  those  glow- 
ing rocks  to  a  deep  purple  and  I  ride  home  to 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       309 

see  a  shadowy  figure  such  as  the  Indians  would 
have  loved,  stride  across  the  sky. 

"  And  then,  Perry,  a  brown  stain  in  a  rock 
changes  the  nature  of  the  dream  and  the  world 
and  the  life  of  three  million  years  ago  cpmes  surg- 
ing across  my  mind  instead.  It  was  when  I  was 
thus  dreaming  on  my  second  day  here  that  I  found 
a  wonderfully  perfect  specimen  of  the  very  first 
dog  in  America,  the  Procynodictis.  That  was 
worth  finding." 

"  Dogs  as  early  as  the  Washakie  formation!  " 
exclaimed  Perry  in  surprise.  "  I  thought  dogs 
were  as  new  as  bears!  " 

"  Not  in  America,"  Antoine  answered.  "  The 
bear  is  a  very  late  arrival  into  this  country.  It 
is  possible  that  the  Cave  Man  in  America  was  here 
as  early  as  the  Cave  Bear,  although  there  were 
smaller  bears  in  Europe  long  before.  But  Pro- 
cynodictis was  almost  a  direct  ancestor  of  the  dog, 
although,  of  course,  he  was  a  good  deal  like  a  cat, 
too." 

"  A  cat  and  a  dog  at  the  same  time,"  exclaimed 
Perry,  laughing;  "  that's  mixing  up  the  breeds, 
sure  enough." 

"  There  was  a  regular  cat-dog,"  the  other  re- 
marked, "  and  cat-dogs,  such  as  Daphaenus, 


3io       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

were  very  plentiful  in  America  during  the  Oligo- 
cene  Period.  They  had  the  teeth  and  jaws  of 
dogs  or  wolves,  but  their  claws  were  like  those  of 
a  cat  and  could  be  drawn  out  and  in,  or  partly,  at 
least." 

11  How  big  was  the  one  you  found,  Antoine?  " 

"  My  Procynodictis  was  just  a  little  larger 
than  a  domestic  pussy,  but  with  a  smaller  body, 
and  longer  legs.  That  combination  of  dogs' 
teeth  and  cats'  claws  should  have  been  very  effec- 
tive, Perry,  but  I  suppose  it  was  too  much  of  a 
good  thing.  Anyway,  the  cat-dogs  died  out,  when 
the  true  cats  and  the  true  dogs  came  on  the  scene. ' ' 

"  It's  queer,"  said  Perry  thoughtfully,  "  how 
that  Eocene  Period  seems  to  have  been  a  time  of 
mixtures. ' ' 

"  It  was  a  time  of  mammal  branchings,"  the 
young  paleontologist  reminded  him,  "  the  time 
when  the  types  of  to-day  began  to  diverge.  What 
two  animals  look  more  unlike  each  other  to-day 
than  a  cat  and  an  otter  f  Yet  cat-otters,  then,  were 
as  plentiful  as  cat-dogs.  They  were  as  big  as  a 
Hyrachyus,  and  considerably  heavier. 

"  Patriofelis,  who  despite  his  name  was  not  the 
father  of  all  the  cats,  since  the  latter  came  from  a 
different  and  smaller  branch,  must  have  been  a 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       311 

very  ugly  customer,  Perry.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  the  ruth  of  tooth  and  claw  in  those  Eocene 
times,  Perry,  and  an  animal  that  wanted  to 
escape  being  eaten  had  to  keep  a  close  lookout. 
And,  since  keeping  a  close  lookout  is  a  matter  of 
brains,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  those  animals  which 
had  the  least  brains  were  the  most  easily  eaten, 
and  so  the  race  became  extinct." 

"  Yes,"  agreed  Perry,  "  that's  true  yet.  If 
you  don't  use  your  brains,  the  other  fellow  gets 
ahead  of  you." 

"  He  doesn't  exactly  eat  you  for  dinner,"  said 
the  Belgian,  smiling,  "  but  he'll  eat  your  dinner, 
or  eat  a  dinner  at  your  expense  by  making  you 
work  for  him.  After  all,  that's  the  whole  story 
of  development,  the  quickest,  the  brainiest  animals 
survived ;  the  heavy,  sluggish  ones  died  off.  Look 
at  your  friend  Hyrachyus,  the  running  rhinoceros. 
He  was  just  a  little  heavier  than  the  three-toed 
horse,  so  Patriofelis  caught  and  ate  him  when  he 
couldn't  catch  the  Mesohippus." 

1 '  It's  like  the  story  of  a  battle,"  the  boy  re- 
plied musingly.  "  Here's  one  small  beast  that 
eats  grass,  and  another  small  beast  that  eats  flesh. 
The  carnivore  will  eat  the  herbivore  if  he  can  catch 
him.  So  the  whole  family  of  herbivore  has  to 


3i2       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

learn  to  run  faster  than  his  enemy.  The  enemy, 
accordingly,  gets  bigger.  Or,  perhaps,  the  her- 
bivore gets  arms,  and  the  carnivore  has  to  be  more 
powerful,  with  sharper  teeth  and  claws.  And  so 
it  goes  on,  each  developing  something  against  the 
other,  until  beast  of  prey  or  victim  becomes  so  big 
or  so  clumsy  that  he  can't  develop  any  further. 
Then,  since  neither  can  ever  go  backward  over 
the  path  of  progress,  either  all  the  grass-eaters 
get  eaten  up  and  their  race  becomes  extinct,  or 
they  learn  how  to  escape  from  the  carnivore  and 
that  race  dies  off  because  it  can't  catch  its  din- 


ner." 


Antoine  nodded  his  head. 

4 *  It  is  a  story  of  battle,"  he  said,  "  a  battle 
against  other  animals  or  a  battle  against  cold. 
Look  how  many  beasts  have  entered  into  the  battle 
with  Man,  Perry,  and  how  most  of  them  have 
lost !  The  little  wild  cow  was  wise,  and,  as  Kip- 
ling tells,  became  Man's  Third  Friend,  and  so, 
to-day,  the  cow  has  developed  and  increased,  so 
that  there  is  hardly  a  country  on  the  globe  where 
the  cow  does  not  live  in  peace  and  comfort.  But 
the  Buffalo  of  the  Plains  gave  fight  to  Man,  he 
put  down  his  horns  and  shaggy  mane  and  bel- 
lowed his  defiance.  And  so,  Perry,  beneath  an 


esy  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

HERD  CROSSING  RED  DEER  RIVER,  ALBERTA. 


Courtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

MUSEUM  BOAT  CAMP  ON  RED  DEER  RIVER. 

Canyon  where  specimens  of  the  gigantic  Albertosaurus,  Saurolophus, 
and  many  other  forms  of  giant  reptiles  were  found. 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       313 

inch  or  so  of  prairie  soil  lie  the  bones  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  buffalo,  and  a  few  half -tame  herds 
alone  remain  of  the  vast  hordes  that  roamed  the 
plains  and  gave  food  and  a  livelihood  to  the  In- 
dians/' 

"  But  that's  a  case  all  by  itself,"  the  boy  re- 
plied. 

"  No,"  said  Antoine,  "  exactly  the  same  thing 
happened  in  Europe.  There,  the  great  wild  ox, 
the  aurochs — the  urus  that  Caesar  speaks  of — a 
giant  bovine  six  feet  high  at  the  shoulder,  defied 
man,  certainly  until  the  twelfth  century,  and  prob- 
ably a  few  were  still  alive  when  Columbus  sailed 
for  the  New  World." 

"  Are  there  none  left  now?  " 

"  Not  one,"  was  the  reply;  "  there  are  few 
European  bison  and  a  few  wild  cattle  of  another 
species,  kept  in  parks  in  Europe,  but  the  true 
aurochs  is  gone  for  ever." 

"  I  suppose,  after  a  while,"  said  Perry,  mourn- 
fully, "  there  won't  be  any  wild  animal  left  for  us 
to  hunt.  When  all  the  open  land  is  turned  into 
farms  and  all  the  forests  are  cleared  and  handled 
for  lumber,  then  all  the  bears  and  wolves  and 
mountain  lions  will  be  shot,  and  museums,  a  thou- 
sand years  from  now,  will  be  as  keen  for  the 


THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

skeleton  of  a  grizzly  bear  as  we  should  be  to-day 
for  an  aurochs." 

"  Undoubtedly, "  Antoine  answered,  "  and 
when  Africa  is  settled,  lions  and  tigers,  rhinocer- 
oses and  hippopotami  will  all  go.  Man  has  cre- 
ated a  new  age,  Perry,  the  age  of  usefulness,  and 
the  only  chance  of  survival  an  animal  has  to-day 
is  to  become  a  slave  to  Man.  In  order  to  do  that, 
an  animal  has  to  have  a  good  enough  brain  to 
learn.  The  primitive  types  are  small-brained  and 
will  die. 

"  Think,  Perry,  if  a  rhinoceros  could  be  taught 
to  carry  a  load,  how  valuable  he  would  be  in  the 
African  jungle!  But  he  fights  Man  instead,  and 
so  he  must  be  killed.  If  a  tiger  could  be  trained 
to  guard  a  flock  of  sheep,  as  a  collie  is  trained, 
and  a  collie's  ancestors  were  wolf -like,  how  safe 
that  flock  would  be!  But  the  tiger  cannot  be 
trained,  the  whole  cat  tribe  is  treacherous.  It  is 
the  big-brained  dog,  and  the  big-brained  horse, 
and  the  big-brained  elephant  that  become  the 
friends  and  the  servants  of  Man  and  thus  win  a 
new  right  to  live." 

"  That  does  seem  to  make  Man  the  boss." 

"  Man  is  the  boss,"  the  young  paleontologist 
agreed.  "  He  gives  the  word  to  live  or  die,  be- 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS      315 

cause  his  is  the  ruling  brain  of  the  world.  Be- 
fore Man  came,  every  creature  that  lived  was  the 
slave  to  Nature,  but  Man  is  Nature's  master.  I 
think  the  fossils  show  that,"  concluded  Antoine, 
as  the  tents  of  the  Museum  camp  hove  in  sight, 
"  for  we  see  the  world  of  the  olden  time  pre- 
paring for  the  coming  of  Man." 

"  And  will  Man,  too,  become  extinct  and  some 
other  animal  take  his  place?  " 

"  Some  races  of  men  have  gone  already,"  the 
other  answered.  "  The  pygmies  are  dying  fast, 
the  last  of  the  giant  Patagonians  died  less  than 
a  hundred  years  ago,  the  last  Tasmanian  closed 
his  race  in  1876,  and  the  flame  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indian  is  flickering  out.  The  skulls  of  the 
men  we  find  in  the  flint  beds  of  the  Ice  Age  are 
greatly  different  from  those  of  any  man  of  to- 
day. Suppose,  Perry,  a  new  Age  of  Cold  should 
come,  all  the  negroes  would  die  out.  If  the  whole 
climate  of  the  world  grew  hotter,  so  that  not  even 
the  Temperate  Zones  were  any  cooler  than  the 
tropics  are  to-day,  the  white  race  would  die  out 
and  the  negro  would  take  its  place.  In  food 
alone,  Man  is  safe,  for  he  eats  both  flesh  and  vege- 
table food  and  has  brain  enough  to  hunt  the  one 
and  to  cultivate  the  other." 


316       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

Perry  waited  until  Antoine  had  finished  the  sen- 
tence, then,  standing  on  his  stirrups,  he  waved  his 
hat  and  raised  a  "  Hello!'7  to  his  uncle,  who 
was  cantering  toward  the  camp  from  another  di- 
rection. 

'  *  Why,  where  have  you  been,  you  two  rovers  ?  ' 
queried  the   professor,   cheerily,   as   they   came 
within  speaking  distance.    "  We  expected  you  at 
lunch  time.    I  even  came  into  camp  for  lunch  to 
be  there  when  you  arrived. " 

"  We  met  an  awfully  jolly  cowboy  and  he  took 
us  to  a  Hyrachyus,  Uncle  George !  ' '  the  boy  burst 
out.  "  Oh,  it's  a  peach,  standing  up  there  in  a 
rock  just  as  if  it  were  going  to  gallop  out!  ' 

Antoine  was  just  as  excited  as  the  lad,  and 
just  as  eager  to  tell  the  story,  but  his  manner 
was  less  exuberant. 

"I  think  it  really  is  a  good  specimen,  Dr. 
Hunt,"  he  said,  "  but  I'm  afraid  it  will  be  quite 
difficult  to  remove." 

"  You  think  the  skeleton  is  complete?  " 

"  Of  course,"  the  Belgian  answered,  "it's  im- 
possible to  say  until  the  matrix  is  removed,  but 
I  think,  from  the  position  of  the  bones,  that  the 
Hyrachyus  was  mired,  and  so  the  complete  skele- 
ton is  likely  to  be  in  place." 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS      317 

"  Your  discovery  is  almost  an  exact  duplicate 
of  the  manner  in  which,  the  first  known  Hyrachyus 
was  found,"  the  scientist  remarked,  "  the  famous 
specimen  discovered  by  Cope.  Evidently  Hyra- 
chyus seems  to  have  had  poor  judgment  in  tell- 
ing when  a  place  was  safe  or  not.  A  really  good 
Hyrachyus!  Yes,  that's  worth  while.  What  was 
the  condition  of  the  skull,  Antoine?  " 

The  younger  paleontologist  immediately  plunged 
into  an  exact  description,  while  Perry  marveled 
at  the  amount  of  detailed  information  his  friend 
had  secured  during  the  few  moments,  when,  stand- 
ing on  the  saddle,  he  had  made  a  brief  examination 
of  the  skull. 

As  the  party  cantered  into  the  camp,  the  pro- 
fessor turned  to  his  nephew  and  said : 

"  This  find  gives  you  a  chance  I  hadn't  ex- 
pected, Perry.  I  thought  that  we  would  leave 
here  to-morrow,  but,  of  course,  you  can't  imagine 
my  leaving  a  specimen  like  that  without  looking 
it  over!  I'll  run  over  to-morrow  with  Mr.  Gain- 
man,  the  leader  of  this  expedition,  and  you  '11  have 
a  chance  to  do  a  little  riding  around  yourself,  and 
get  the  general  characteristics  of  this  Washakie 
formation  in  your  head." 

That  evening  after  dinner,  under  prompting 


3i8       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

from  Perry,  Dr.  Hunt  told  of  his  adventures  in 
Tierra  del  Fuego  and  in  the  interior  of  Patagonia 
in  a  search  for  a  living  specimen  of  the  giant 
ground-sloth,  the  great  Megatherium,  a  monster 
twelve  feet  in  height. " 

' '  Did  you  think  that  there  were  any  giant  sloths 
living  still,  Uncle  George?  "  the  boy  asked. 

"  I  hardly  thought  so,"  the  scientist  replied, 
"  but  I  hadn't  sufficient  reason  to  disbelieve  the 
report.  All  through  South  America  there  are  le- 
gends of  the  great  ground-sloth  having  been  do- 
mesticated by  Man.  And,  as  you  probably  know, 
every  once  in  a  little  while,  there  are  fantastic 
stories  of  Mylodon,  twelve  feet  in  length,  having 
been  domesticated  like  cows  by  Primitive  Man." 

"  You  mean  that  Primitive  Man  milked  the 
sloth?  "  exclaimed  Perry  in  amazement. 

"  So  the  story  runs.  But  I  don't  think  it  can 
be  regarded  as  true.  In  the  first  place,  the  Pa- 
tagonians  were  not  very  far  advanced  in  civiliza- 
tion; and  in  the  second  place,  the  sloths  are  no- 
toriously slow  in  brain,  so  that  they  would  not 
be  teachable.  Of  course,  one  could  say  that  the 
stupidity  of  the  sloth  made  them  fit  for  domes- 
tication, because  they  wouldn't  know  enough  to 
resent  slavery." 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       319 

"  Then  I  should  think  they  would  have  been 
preserved  instead  of  dying  out." 

"  Very  well  reasoned,  Perry,''  said  his  uncle, 
nodding  his  head  approvingly.  "  That  is  a  most 
important  point.  If  the  sloth  could  have  been 
domesticated  like  the  cow,  the  Patagonians  would 
have  had  a  better  chance  of  survival,  and  if  the 
Patagonians  could  have  raised  sloths,  the  sloths 
would  have  survived  in  herds  also.  No,  Perry, 
I  think  the  South  American  natives  must  have 
been  more  anxious  to  kill  and  eat  the  sloths  than 
to  domesticate  them,  though  it  is  almost  as  strange 
to  understand  how  a  few  scattered  natives,  with 
stone-tipped  spears,  could  have  caused  the  ex- 
tinction of  a  race  of  giant  animals  that  had  sur- 
vived all  the  changes  of  several  million  years. 
For  you  remember,  Perry,  that  the  ancestors  of 
the  ground-sloths,  such  as  Prepotherium,  date 
back  as  far  as  the  Miocene  Period." 

' '  But  is  there  any  record  of  those  huge  ground- 
sloths  having  been  found  in  South  America  ex- 
cept as  fossils?  "  queried  Perry. 

"  No,"  the  professor  replied,  "  there  is  not. 
But  that  is  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  saying  that 
there  never  is  going  to  be.  Don't  forget  the 
okapi!  And  the  reason  that  I  joined  that  ex- 


320       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

pedition  to  Patagonia,  Perry,  was  because  one  of 
the  universities  received  what  seemed  like  sure 
and  accurate  information  about  a  still  living 
ground-sloth.  The  matter  was  worth  investigat- 
ing. It  might  be  true." 

"  Then  you  think  it  is  possible,  still?  " 

*•  Quite  possible,  but  unlikely.  It  is  equally  pos- 
sible that  there  may  still  be  a  small  herd  of  mam- 
moth in  the  unexplored  region  west  of  Hudson's 
Bay,  but  the  reports  that  are  brought  in  by 
travelers  that  they  have  seen  a  living  mammoth, 
have  never  been  verified. 

"  Many  scientists  believe  that  there  still  be  a 
few  giant  Moas  in  some  of  the  interior  regions  of 
New  Zealand,  but  the  most  diligent  search  has 
failed  to  find  any." 

"  Moas  were  like  ostriches,  only  bigger,  weren't 
they,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  A  very  great  deal  bigger,  and  much  heavier 
in  build.  Yet,  less  than  ten  years  ago,  a  mission- 
ary reported  that  he  had  knowledge  of  a  feast  at 
which  the  Maoris,  or  New  Zealand  natives,  had 
found,  killed,  and  eaten  a  giant  Moa.  There's  no 
doubt  that  the  Maoris  used  to  eat  the  Moa,  as 
recently  as  a  century  or  two  ago.  Their  remains 
have  been  discovered  in  the  charred  remains  of 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS      321 

camp  fires.  Their  bones  are  found  in  thousands, 
lying  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  hardly  buried 
at  all,  showing  how  recently  they  became  extinct. 

"  In  one  morass,  abounding  in  warm  springs, 
the  bones  of  the  Moa  were  found  in  enormous  num- 
bers, layer  upon  layer.  They  are  there  in  thou- 
sands, and  the  only  reason  for  that  vast  horde  of 
skeletons  is,  that  in  some  terribly  cold  winter, 
or,  it  may  be,  in  one  of  the  later  cycles  of  the  Ice 
Age,  the  giant  birds  made  their  way  to  the  warm 
flowing  springs  in  the  hope  that  their  feet,  at  least, 
might  be  safe  from  the  biting  frost,  and,  undoubt- 
edly, the  warm  springs  made  the  air  less  bitterly 
cold.  But  there  was  no  food  there,  and  they  per- 
ished miserably  from  cold  and  want.  That  may 
have  been  a  long  time  ago.  Yet,  Perry,  only  a 
few  years  ago,  a  Moa  egg  was  found  in  a  Maori 
grave,  tightly  clasped  in  the  bony  fingers  of 
a  skeleton.  None  the  less,  that  doesn't  prove  that 
it  was  a  new-laid  egg!  " 

"  It  certainly  wasn't  when  it  was  found,  if  it 
was  in  a  grave,"  ejaculated  Perry. 

"  Exactly.  Finding  an  egg  is  no  proof  of  its 
age.  For  example,  a  perfect  egg  of  the  Aepyornis 
— the  biggest  egg  in  the  world,  six  times  as  large 
as  an  ostrich  egg — was  found  after  a  hurricane, 


322       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

bobbing  serenely  up  and  down  on  the  waves  near 
St.  Augustine's  Bay." 

"  How  in  the  world  do  you  suppose  it  got 
there?  " 

"  Probably  it  had  been  buried  in  a  swamp," 
the  professor  replied,  "  and,  it  may  be,  when  the 
hurricane  uprooted  a  tree,  the  outbursting  roots 
tore  up  some  of  the  soil  and  exposed  an  egg  which 
had  been  buried  in  the  swamp  muck.  The  egg 
floated  to  the  surface  and  so  made  its  way  down 
to  the  sea." 

"  You  said  the  Aepyornis  egg  was  six  times  as 
big  as  the  ostrich's  egg,  but  the  bird  wasn't  six 
times  as  big,  was  it!  " 

"  Hardly,"  said  the  scientist,  smiling;  "  that 
would  be  like  the  Eoc,  that  Sindbad  the  Sailor 
spoke  about.  But  I  think  that  the  huge  eggs  of 
the  Aepyornis  were  the  things  that  started  the 
story  about  the  Eoc.  You  know,  it  was  supposed 
to  have  its  home  in  Madagascar.  There  are  sev- 
eral of  those  eggs  known,  and 'one  very  fine  one 
is  in  America.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  bird  was 
not  very  much  bigger  than  an  ostrich.  When  you 
come  to  feathered  giants,  Perry,  Patagonia  must 
take  the  lead,  and  when  I  was  down  there  this 
last  winter,  I  found  some  splendid  specimens. ' ' 


American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

OPENING  (REAR  TENT)  TO  MOROPUS  QUARRY. 


irtesy  of  American  Museum  of  Natur 
INSIDE  THE  MOROPUS 
Museum  expert  uncovering  bones  of  a  Chalicothere,  a  strange  creature 
with  the  teeth  of  a  rhinoceros  and  clawed  feet,  twisted 
like  those  of  an  ant-eater. 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       323 

"  Oh,  Uncle  George,  how  big?  " 

"  Well,  I  found  a  Brontornis,  or  Thunder  Bird, 
with  leg  bones  bigger  than  those  of  an  ox,  stand- 
ing about  eleven  feet  high.  The  drumstick  was 
thirty  inches  long !  That  would  be  a  bird  to  serve 
whole  for  a  Christmas  Dinner  instead  of  a  four- 
teen-pound turkey!  " 

Perry  looked  thoughtful. 

11  IVe  got  a  pretty  good  appetite, "  he  said, 
"  but  I  think  a  drumstick  nearly  a  yard  long  would 
satisfy  me !  ' ' 

66  Even  that  wasn't  the  strangest  of  my  finds 
in  Patagonia  along  the  bird  line,"  his  uncle  con- 
tinued. "  Together  with  one  of  the  university 
men  I  found  a  fairly  good  specimen  of  that  queer- 
est of  fierce  birds,  the  Phororhacus.  Imagine, 
Perry,  a  bird  seven  feet  high,  with  a  head  as  big  as 
that  of  a  horse,  and  a  beak  ten  times  as  big  and 
powerful  as  that  of  an  eagle.  Conceive  of  that 
head  and  beak  poised  on  a  heavy  and  densely  mus- 
cled neck  that  could  strike  like  a  thunderbolt,  and 
I  think  you  would  agree  that  a  blow  from  that 
ornithological  pick-ax  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
dodge!  In  addition,  you  must  present  to  your- 
self the  idea  of  legs  something  like  those  of  an 
ostrich,  but  more  powerful  and  heavier,  and  those 


324       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

bore  sharp  tearing  claws.  Decidedly  the  Phor- 
orachus  was  a  bird  to  let  strictly  alone.  It  is  hard 
to  understand  why  a  creature  so  well  equipped 
with  beak  and  claw  perished  from  the  earth,  leav- 
ing no  descendant  to  carry  on  the  race." 

"  None  of  those  giant  birds  flew,  did  they,  Uncle 
George?  " 

"  No/'  was  the  reply,  "  they  were  all  too  big 
for  flight.  About  twenty  feet  span  of  wing  or 
fifty  to  sixty  pounds  in  weight  seems  to  be  Na- 
ture's limit  to  the  size  of  anything  that  flies." 

"  That's  the  size  of  the  Pteranodon." 

"  Exactly,"  the  professor  answered,  "  and  he 
was  the  largest  of  the  flying  reptiles.  Now  a  bird 
as  heavy  as  Phororhacus  or  the  elephant-footed 
Moa  would  have  needed  a  sixty-foot  spread  of 
wing.  The  giant  birds  were  all  flightless  and  they 
all  flourished  in  islands  and  isolated  places  where 
they  had  few  enemies.  Thus,  Perry,  the  ostriches 
come  from  Australia,  the  Moas  from  New  Zealand, 
the  Aepyornis  from  Madagascar  and  the  Phoro- 
rhacus from  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  from  South 
America  in  the  period  when  it  was  isolated  from 
the  North  American  continent.  Now  in  Tasma- 
nia, which  is  close  to  Australia,  it  happened  that 
two  carnivorous  animals  developed,  the  Tasma- 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       325 

nian  Wolf  and  the  Tasmanian  Devil.  As  a  result, 
in  Tasmania  there  are  no  flightless  birds.  When 
carnivores  are  around,  the  only  place  of  safety 
for  a  bird  is  in  the  air,  and  since  there  is  a  limit 
to  flight,  all  the  successful  breeds  of  birds  are 
small. " 

At  this  point  Dr.  Gainman,  the  head  of  the  camp 
they  were  visiting  and  with  which  Antoine  was 
working,  joined  the  party  and  the  conversation 
passed  into  a  scientific  discussion  concerning  the 
effect  of  geographic  isolation  on  the  development 
of  birds,  and,  long  before  the  subject  had  been  set- 
tled, Perry  had  made  his  way  to  his  own  tent  and 
was  fast  asleep. 

Next  morning,  while  Dr.  Hunt  and  Dr.  Gainman 
rode  over  to  No  Wood  Draw,  with  Antoine  as 
guide,  to  view  the  skeleton  of  the  Hyrachyus  and 
discuss  the  best  means  of  removing  it  and  ship- 
ing  the  block  to  New  York,  Perry  started  out 
alone  for  Haystack  Butte.  His  ride  with  Bound- 
up  Dick  and  Antoine  had  given  him  a  good  idea  of 
the  country,  and,  on  the  way  from  the  station  to 
Blue  Goose  Gully,  Antoine  had  pointed  out  to  him 
its  geology.  Still  he  was  surprised,  when,  less 
than  an  hour  after  leaving  camp,  he  found  him- 
self on  a  well-beaten  trail.  Half  feeling  that  the 


326       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

trail  might  lead  in  his  direction,  since  it  passed 
close  to  Haystack  Butte,  he  followed  it  for  a  little 
distance.  The  skeleton  of  a  horse,  half  buried 
in  the  soil,  and,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  on,  the 
skull  of  an  ox,  made  him  wonder.  Then,  sud- 
denly, the  lad  remembered  a  diagram  in  one  of 
his  old  scientific  books  at  home,  showing  a  sec- 
tion of  Haystack  Mountain  and  the  surrounding 
country,  and  on  the  diagram  a  winding  road  with 
the  old  thrilling  name : 

"  The  Overland  Trail!  " 

Unconsciously,  Perry  checked  his  pony  and 
looked  to  the  westward.  "  The  Overland  Trail!  " 
Over  that  trail  how  many  emigrant  trains  had 
passed!  On  the  long  prairie  stretches  how  many 
bands  of  hostile  Indians  had  been  fought ;  over  the 
Bad  Lands  in  which  he  was  riding,  how  many  emi- 
grants had  died,  the  men  gaunt  and  footsore,  the 
women  weak  and  starved.  "  The  Overland 
Trail!  "  No  three  words  in  all  the  language  tell 
a  grimmer  story  of  American  History,  no  three 
words  hold  more  gallantry  or  more  adventure. 

It  was  with  a  jerk  that  Perry  pulled  himself 
back  to  reality  again  and  turned  to  the  left  from 
the  old  trail,  towards  the  low  slopes  of  that  butte 
which  is  dignified  by  the  name  of  Haystack  Moun- 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       327 

tain.  It  took  a  sharp  eye  to  distinguish  between 
the  two  levels  of  rock,  of  which  the  distinguish- 
ing characters  had  been  explained  to  Perry  by 
Antoine,  but  the  boy  read  his  way  correctly. 
Bounding  one  of  the  small  erosion  buttes  he 
reached  the  point  where  one  of  the  parties  from 
the  camp  was  engaged  in  uncovering  a  Eobasileus 
or  Loxolophodon  skeleton  that  had  been  dis- 
covered a  week  or  two  before. 

Perry  called  to  remembrance  the  rhyme  his 
uncle  had  told  him  quoting  the  scornful  remarks 
of  the  Loxolophodon  to  the  aspiring  Eohippus,  and 
he  smiled.  He  tethered  his  pony,  and  boy-like, 
clambered  to  the  very  top  of  Haystack  Butte, 
beneath  the  cap  of  which  the  Eobasileus  skeleton 
had  been  found.  He  spent  the  day  happily  roam- 
ing around  the  country,  learning  the  lie  of  the 
rocks  from  the  clues  that  had  been  given  him  by 
Antoine. 

Next  day,  with  his  uncle,  the  boy  started  north 
for  the  Grey  Bull  River  country  to  review  the 
Lower  Eocene  Beds.  Perry  thought  he  knew  his 
geology  fairly  well,  but  he  had  not  the  slightest 
idea  that  there  could  be  as  much  excitement  in  a 
mere  ride  through  that  country  with  some  one 
who  was  as  expert  as  the  professor.  The  finding 


328       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

of  each  new  rock  was  like  the  finding  of  a  new 
wild  animal,  and  Perry  aptly  described  the  ride 
as  ' '  gunning  for  strata !  ' 

The  trip  through  the  Puerco  and  Torrejon  re- 
gions of  New  Mexico  was  also  a  delight  to  the 
boy,  but  as  their  researches  took  them  further 
and  further  down  the  rock  levels  and  they  grew 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  level  where  the  giant 
reptiles  could  be  found,  all  the  great  wonder  re- 
vived, and  at  night,  in  his  tent,  Perry  dreamed 
again  and  again  that  he  was  on  the  back  of  the 
unicorn,  speeding  through  that  Jurassic  world  of 
giant  dinosaurs.  At  last,  the  New  Mexico  strata 
sufficiently  studied,  the  two  took  the  train  back 
for  Wyoming  once  more.  They  picked  up  their 
ponies  at  the  nearest  station  to  the  reptile  beds 
and  a  little  later  stopped  at  an  abandoned  sod 
cabin  that  had  been  used  by  the  Museum  expedi- 
tion several  years  before  when  taking  out  speci- 
mens from  the  Bone  Cabin  quarry. 

"  There,  Perry,"  said  the  professor,  pointing 
to  the  ruins  of  a  small  building  on  a  hillock  at 
the  end  of  the  valley  not  far  from  the  sod  cabin, 
"  is  the  most  marvelous  fossil  spot  in  the  world. 
It  is  famous  to  every  scientist  and  will  be  famous 
forever." 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       329 

"  Why,  Uncle  George?  " 

"  That  is  Bone  Cabin  Hill,  right  at  the  end 
of  that  '  draw/  :>  was  the  reply,  "  and  it  is  the 
site  of  the  greatest  find  of  dinosaurs  made  in  a 
single  locality  in  any  part  of  the  world.  One  of 
our  own  Museum  men  made  the  discovery,  in  the 
spring  of  1897. 

"  We  had  been  steadily  working  down  all  the 
beds  that  hold  the  fossils  of  mammals,  the  beds 
that  you  and  I  have  seen,  Perry,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1897,  the  Museum  decided  to  undertake  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  rocks  that  lay  below  them,  rocks 
of  the  Cretaceous  and  Jurassic  Periods.  We  were 
especially  anxious  to  explore  the  rocks  of  the 
upper  Jurassic,  which  showed  the  first  dawn 
of  the  Mammal  Age  and  so  we  made  our  way 
here,  to  the  Laramie  Plains,  but  over  towards  the 
base  of  the  famous  Como  Bluffs. 

"  Marsh  and  Cope,  the  great  pioneers  of  all 
American  fossil  work,  had  explored  these  bluffs 
thoroughly,  so  that  we  were  not  very  sanguine  of 
success." 

"  Still,  Uncle  George,"  the  boy  suggested, 
"  weathering  is  always  going  on." 

"  Of  course,"  the  professor  answered,  "  that 
was  what  we  counted  on.  When  we  reached  the 


330       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

bluffs,  we  found  numbers  of  bones  of  giant  reptiles 
strewn  along  the  base,  tumbled  from  the  rocks 
above,  as  gradual  weathering  had  exposed  them, 
but  most  of  these  were  broken  and  so  badly  weath- 
ered that  other  collectors  had  passed  them  by. 
The  outlook  was  not  good,  but  after  a  few  weeks 
we  found  parts  of  the  skeleton  of  the  Diplodocus 
and  the  Brontosaurus. ' ' 

"  Let's  see,"  said  Perry  thoughtfully,  "  the 
Diplodocus  was  the  long-limbed  one  and  the  Bron- 
tosaurus was  a  heavy  brute." 

"  Fairly  heavy,"  agreed  the  professor,  "  the 
one  we  found  would  have  weighed  at  least  thirty- 
eight  tons  when  alive.  The  skeleton  was  sixty-six, 
nearly  sixty-seven  feet  long.  One  of  our  men 
discovered  it  and  it  took  the  whole  of  one  sum- 
mer to  extract  the  skeleton  from  the  rock,  here, 
on  the  Laramie  Plains,  and  ship  it  to  the  Museum. 
In  the  New  York  workshops  it  took  another  two 
years  of  steady  work,  all  day  long,  every  day,  to 
chip  away  the  rock  from  the  bones,  to  cement  the 
brittle  and  shattered  petrified  bone,  so  that  it 
would  be  strong  enough  to  bear  handling,  and  to 
restore  the  missing  parts  of  each  of  the  broken 
bones.  And  then,  Perry,  the  mounting  of  the 
skeleton  had  not  been  begun." 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       331 

"  I  can  see  how  that  would  be,"  the  boy  ex- 
claimed, "  I  didn't  cut  my  Pteranodon  entirely 
away  from  the  rock,  and  just  to  get  it  partly 
cleared  away  was  an  awful  job." 

"  Mounting  that  big  skeleton  was  unbelievably 
hard,"  the  professor  continued.  "  No  museum 
had  ever  before  attempted  to  mount  so  large  a 
fossil  skeleton,  and  you  see,  Perry,  the  bones  were 
so  fragile  that  they  could  not  even  bear  their  own 
weight,  much  less  the  weight  of  the  skeleton. 
Nearly  every  separate  bone  had  to  be  specially 
treated  and  hardened  so  as  to  be  rigid.  Then 
came  the  question  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  bones 
were  to  be  articulated  together.  No  one  had  ever 
seen  a  living  Brontosaurus,  of  course,  and  so  there 
was  no  guide  as  to  what  he  looked  like.  The  bones 
were  there,  but  bones  aren't  a  safe  guide  by  them- 
selves." 

"  I  don't  see  why  not,"  remarked  Perry. 

11  Suppose  you  found  the  bones  of  a  frog,  but 
no  one  had  ever  seen  a  frog  or  anything  that 
looked  like  one!  You  might  set  the  animal  up 
with  those  long  doubled-up  legs  quite  straight, 
so  that  he  would  look  as  though  he  were  on  stilts." 

"  That  would  sure  make  a  queer-looking  beast," 
said  Perry,  laughing. 


332       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  Exactly.  So,  in  order  to  get  an  idea  of  the 
way  the  bones  must  have  been  during  life,  we  dis- 
sected and  studied  nearly  every  living  reptile,  es- 
pecially the  alligators  and  the  lizards,  and  worked 
out  the  muscles  of  almost  all  of  them.  Then  the 
corresponding  bones  in  the  Brontosaurus  were 
compared,  and  the  position  and  size'  of  the  muscles 
worked  out,  as  far  as  they  could  be  judged  from 
the  notches  and  grooves  still  preserved  on  the 
bones. ' ' 

"  My  word,  that's  real  work!  " 

"  You  can  be  sure  it  was  real  work/'  the  pro- 
fessor assured  him.  "  Then,  Perry,  we  articu- 
lated the  skeleton  loosely,  and  the  position  and 
size  of  each  muscle  were  judged  from  strips  of 
paper  we  pasted  on  the  bones  to  represent  the 
muscles.  As  we  moved  the  joints,  we  watched 
the  paper  move,  and  compared  the  movement  of 
the  paper  with  the  muscles  of  the  living  reptiles. 
When  we  got  the  limbs  into  the  proper  places, 
the  whole  question  of  the  weight  and  pose  of  the 
body,  as  it  must  have  been  in  life,  was  worked 
out,  and  finally  the  skeleton  was  mounted  in  what 
must  have  been  the  characteristic  position  that  the 
Brontosaurus  assumed  during  life.  That  took  us 
another  three  years.  It  was  not  until  three  years 


! 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       333 

later,  or  six  years  altogether,  tliat  the  Brontosau- 
rus  skeleton  was  finally  mounted/' 

11  Meantime,  Uncle  George,  I  suppose  you  had 
found  the  Bone  Cabin  quarry,"  said  the  boy, 
anxious  to  bring  his  uncle  back  to  the  story  of  the 
discovery. 

"  We  first  found  that  quarry  in  the  autumn  of 
the  year  we  began  work  on  the  Como  Bluffs/' 
the  professor  replied.  "  One  of  our  fellows  was 
doing  a  little  prospecting  over  the  plains,  as  we 
felt  we  had  exhausted  the  Como  Bluffs  specimens 
that  had  been  exposed  so  far.  Now,  if  you  re- 
member, Perry,  as  we  rode  out  here  this  after- 
noon, we  sighted  the  Laramie  Mountains  and  the 
Freeze  Out  Hills  and  I  pointed  out  to  you  that 
they  were  quite  recent  in  origin.  As  those  ranges 
were  uplifted,  they  crushed  together  the  surface 
of  the  level  plains  and  crumpled  them  into  rock 
waves.  Erosion  cut  away  the  tops  of  those  waves 
and  exposed  the  rock  at  the  edges,  though,  of 
course,  the  lower  parts  of  these  rock  waves  are 
still  underground  and  it  will  take  the  erosion  of 
many  centuries  to  expose  them.  The  bone-hun- 
ters of  the  future  will  find  more  treasures  waiting 
for  them  on  the  Laramie  Plains,  just  as  we  have 
done. 


334       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

"  You  remember,  Perry,  I  showed  you  the  ir- 
regularities of  the  bone  layer.  At  the  place  where 
you  started  up  that  prong-horn  antelope  to-day, 
the  bone  layer  was  level,  and  that  little  gully 
where  you  retrieved  that  sage  chicken  you  shot, 
just  before  dinner,  was  the  trough  of  one  of  those 
rock  waves.  The  Laramie  Plains  are  like  a  huge 
graveyard  of  the  giant  saurians  which  has  been 
crumpled  like  a  sheet  of  paper.  So,  when  we  had 
almost  finished  with  the  Como  Bluffs,  we  decided 
to  prospect  across  the  plains,  watching  carefully 
for  each  place  that  might  be  the  top  of  one  of 
these  waves,  and  therefore  might  be  an  exposure 
of  the  fossil-bearing  fresh-water  rock. 

"  As  the  second  in  command  of  our  party  was 
riding  over  the  plains,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout 
for  the  characteristic  lie  of  the  land,  he  noticed  a 
little  hillock.  Not  being  a  part  of  the  usual  wave 
formation,  it  did  not  strike  him  forcibly,  but,  in 
riding  past,  he  noticed  a  number  of  brownish 
masses  that  looked  like  sandstone  concretions. 
Brown  sandstone  is  not  plentiful  in  that  region, 
so  he  looked  a  little  more  closely. 

"  Suddenly  he  pulled  up  with  a  jerk.  There, 
at  least,  was  something  that  was  not  sandstone! 
A  less  experienced  eye  would  have  passed  the 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       335 

boulder  by,  but  the  Museum  expert  was  too  keen 
a  man  not  to  have  quick  perception.  Another, 
and  another  and  yet  another !  He  hopped  off  his 
pony,  dropped  the  reins,  and  came  to  the  hillock. 

"  The  entire  mound  was  made  of  dinosaur 
bones ! 

* '  All  the  dark-brown  boulders  were  the  remains 
of  ponderous  fossils  which  had  slowly  washed  out 
from  a  great  dinosaur  bed  beneath.  The  bones 
had  been  so  thickly  strewn  that  they  had  held 
the  soil  together  against  erosion.  The  explorer 
climbed  the  little  hillock,  and  there,  near  the  top, 
was  the  abandoned  dugout  foundation  of  a  shanty 
that  some  Mexican  herder  had  built  there  many 
a  year  ago.  It  was  a  shallow  cellar,  only  a  few 
feet  deep. 

"  The  foundation  was  lined  with  a  wall  of  fos- 
sil bones!  These  huge  petrified  blocks  which  the 
herder  had  only  thought  of  as  stones  and  used  as 
a  base  for  his  shanty,  were  treasures  that  are  now 
of  incalculable  value  to  the  scientific  world.  To 
the  trained  eye,  this  hillock  was  like  a  sign-post 
slowly  erected  by  Nature  during  millions  of  years 
to  point  the  way  to  the  great  cemetery  below  where 
the  most  gigantic  of  her  children  lay  buried. 

"  It  was  in  the  late  spring  of  next  year  that  I 


336       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

came  on  the  scene.  The  hillock  was  a  mass  of 
glowing  color.  Wild  flowers  were  blooming  every- 
where. The  cacti  were  in  full  blossom,  and  the 
dwarf  bushes  of  the  desert  were  in  the  few  weeks 
of  their  greenness.  Half -hidden  amid  the  flowers 
and  the  cacti  were  these  brown  boulders  which 
had  been  found  to  be  bones. 

"  All  the  three  great  kinds  of  dinosaurs  were 
there,  Perry.  The  bones  of  the  huge  Bron- 
tosaurus  and  Camarasaurus  lay  beneath  that  hil- 
lock of  the  great  army  of  Amphibious  Dinosaurs, 
those  monsters  with  blunt  pointed  teeth  and  blunt 
claw,  with  limbs  and  feet  like  elephants,  un- 
armored  five  toed,  with  long  neck  and  small  head ; 
only  the  most  tremendous  of  them,  the  Brachio- 
saurus,  was  missing.  These  Amphibious  Dino- 
saurs were  the  largest  creatures  that  ever  trod 
the  world,  Perry,  and  their  bulk  was  too  great  for 
them  to  have  lived  any  other  than  a  marsh  life, 
when  the  buoyancy  of  the  water  in  part  sustained 
the  weight  of  their  enormous  bodies. 

"  The  Beaked  Dinosaurs  were  in  that  Bone 
Cabin  hillock  and  in  the  beds  below  by  dozens. 
There  were  two  or  three  species  of  the  Campto- 
saurus,  one  quite  small,  only  three  or  four  feet 
high,  another  six  or  seven  feet  high,  but  both  of 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       337 

them  much  smaller  than  their  gigantic  relative, 
the  Iguanodon,  which  lived  about  the  same  time  in 
Western  Europe.  There  were  those  super-dread- 
noughts of  the  dinosaur  world,  the  short-legged 
Stegosaurs,  built  for  impregnable  defense,  with 
feet  like  elephants,  short  neck,  small  head,  and  a 
body  and  tail  armored  with  massive  bony  plates 
and  large  spines. ' ' 

"  Ah,"  said  Perry,  remembering  his  dream, 
"  it  was  a  Stegosaur  that  saved  me!  " 

His  uncle  stared  at  him,  not  in  the  least  under- 
standing the  remark,  but  continued: 

"Then,  too,  there  were  carnivorous  dinosaurs  of 
two  kinds,  one  a  small  agile  beast,  Ornitholestes, 
some  six  feet  in  length,  and  the  other  the  terrible 
Allosaurus,  a  giant  flesh  eater,  thirty-eight  feet 
long,  with  bird-like  feet  and  huge  jaws  armed  with 
pointed  teeth  sharp  as  a  knife  and  great  curved 
talons.  Not  only  did  we  find  the  skulls  and  skele- 
tons of  these  beasts,  but  also  significant  evidence 
of  their  habits.  The  bones  of  the  herbivorous 
dinosaurs,  even  of  the  Brontosaurus,  were  not  un- 
commonly scored  with  the  tooth-marks  of  the  Al- 
losaurus, whose  broken-off  teeth  sometimes  lay 
beside  them  in  the  quarry.  So  you  see  that  among 
these  Jurassic  Dinosaurs  there  was  the  same  divi- 


338       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

sion  into  hunters  and  prey  that  one  sees  every- 
where in  Nature.  There,  as  everywhere  else,  the 
hunters  developed  weapons  for  attack — teeth  and 
claws;  while  the  hunted  animals  either  developed 
some  kind  of  armor  or  weapons  of  defense ;  others, 
again,  developed  means  of  speed  for  flight  from 
their  foes,  or  retreated  to  some  inaccessible  place 
for  safety.  The  carnivora,  in  turn,  were  trying 
out  improvements  in  method  of  capturing  and  at- 
tacking their  prey." 

"  Same  old  fight!  "  exclaimed  the  boy. 

"  You  can  see  the  fight  even  more  impressively 
in  the  Cretaceous  Period,  some  millions  of  years 
later  than  the  Bone  Cabin  dinosaurs.  By  that 
time  the  huge  but  clumsy  and  helpless  amphibious 
dinosaurs  had  become  extinct.  The  unarmored 
Camptosaurus,  Iguanodonts  and  their  relatives 
had  taken  to  the  water  as  swimmers  rather  than 
waders,  and  had  become  the  Duck-billed  dinosaurs, 
with  rows  of  small  teeth  behind  a  duck-like  bill, 
web  feet  and  a  powerful  swimming  tail. 

"  The  armored  dinosaurs  had  developed 
stronger  armor,  while  another  group  had  devised 
a  novel  and  most  extraordinary  protection,  a  huge 
buckler  over  the  head  and  tremendous  horns  over 
the  eyes  and  on  top  of  the  nose.  There  were  the 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       339 

Horned  Dinosaurs,  with  their  huge  heads.  One  of 
these,  Triceratops,  he  of  the  three-horned  face, 
had  a  neck  with  an  enormous  bony  frill  like  the 
spiked  collar  that  some  bulldogs  wear,  as  well  as 
his  threatening  horns.  He  was  a  powerful  beast, 
Perry,  this  Triceratops,  and  must  have  been  able 
to  hold  his  own  against  the  terrible  carnivorous 
dinosaurs  that  threatened  every  moment  of  their 
lives. " 

"  Were  they  as  big?  " 

"  Yes,  bigger  and  far  more  menacing.  Tyran- 
nosaurus,  the  Tyrant  Saurian,  was  perhaps  the 
fiercest  creature  that  ever  drew  breath  upon  the 
earth.  He  reached  a  length  of  forty-seven  feet 
and  stood  twenty  feet  high,  standing  upon  his 
huge  hind  legs.  His  head  was  more  than  four 
feet  long  and  his  deep  jaws  bore  a  grim  array 
of  tearing  six-inch  teeth.  The  hind  legs,  though 
larger  than  those  of  elephants,  had  feet  like  those 
of  birds,  with  sharp  ripping  claws,  and  the  fore- 
feet were  clawed  like  the  talons  of  an  eagle." 

*  '  Not  much  chance  if  a  thing  like  that  got  after 
you,"  the  boy  ejaculated. 

11  It  would  be  a  mistake,  though,  Perry,"  his 
uncle  warned  him,  "  to  imagine  even  the  Tyran- 
nosaurus  as  swift  or  active.  An  animal  larger 


340       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

than  an  elephant,  with  a  tiny  reptile  brain,  smal- 
ler than  a  man's  clenched  fist,  could  never  have 
leapt  or  sprung  upon  a  foe,  but  must  have  ad- 
vanced with  a  heavy  lumbering  run.  There  came 
the  value,  my  boy,  of  the  great  massive  defense 
of  Triceratops,  the  three-horned,  for  while  that 
heavy  head  with  the  neck  collar  of  plates  would 
have  been  of  little  value  against  a  small,  swift 
enemy,  it  might  easily  impale  the  ponderous  Ty- 
rannosaurus  as  he  ran  fiercely  though  clumsily 
onward  to  the  fight.  They  were  slow  and  deadly 
fighters,  Perry,  those  giant  reptiles  of  old,  and 
probably,  every  meeting  meant  the  death  of  one 
or  both,  and  was  ended  with  the  first  or  second 
grapple. " 

"  I  wish  we  could  see  one  of  those  fights  be- 
tween two  scrappy  monster  Saurians,  anyway/' 
the  boy  said  wistfully. 

"  That  is  past  wishing  for,"  the  scientist  re- 
plied, "  all  we  can  hope  for  is  to  study  the  way 
they  must  have  fought.  Perhaps,  Perry,  if  we 
should  find  some  specimens  of  the  great  carni- 
vorous dinosaurs,  the  Museum  may  be  able  to 
mount  them  in  the  attitude  of  fighting,  and  thus, 
ten  million  years  after  their  death,  they  will  thrill 
the  world  of  men,  when,  during  all  their  lifetime, 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       341 

they  had  no  audience  to  applaud  nor  any  specta- 
tors to  terrorize." 

The  following  day,  and  for  many  days  there- 
after, Perry  prospected  with  his  uncle  through- 
out the  Laramie  Plains.  He  stood  in  the  old  Bone 
Cabin  Quarry,  he  saw  the  thousands  of  bones  that 
still  lie  at  the  base  of  the  Como  Bluffs,  he  followed 
eagerly  and  anxiously  the  various  rock  waves  of 
the  plains.  Many  and  many  a  fossil  he  found. 
Indeed,  there  was  hardly  a  day  that  he  did  not 
return  to  camp  with  news  of  some  discovery,  but 
always  the  professor  found  that  it  was  a  common 
specimen,  or  one  of  which  there  were  more  com- 
plete skeletons  known.  Yet,  as  Antoine  reminded 
him,  each  day  held  new  promise. 

On  the  very  last  day  but  one  of  the  time  allotted 
for  their  stay,  Perry  decided  to  ride  out  in  a  dif- 
ferent direction.  His  uncle  had  said  that  some 
time  in  the  future  he  intended  to  do  some  pros- 
pecting near  the  Freeze  Out  Hills,  and  Perry,  re- 
membering that  the  Bone  Cabin  quarry  had  been 
found  almost  by  accident,  started  out  early  that 
morning  for  the  longest  ride  he  had  undertaken  by 
himself.  The  day  was  hot  and  sultry,  but  the  lad 
had  a  curious  elation. 

"  I  feel  it  in  my  bones  that  I'm  going  to  find 


342       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

something  to-day!  "  he  had  said  to  his  uncle  be- 
fore leaving. 

Noon  came  before  he  had  reached  the  desired 
point,  but  the  rock  formations  began  to  look  fa- 
miliar, more  like  those  in  which  he  had  been  work- 
ing for  the  past  three  weeks,  and  so,  though  he 
was  far  from  camp,  Perry  went  riding  onward 
still,  knowing  he  would  be  late  in  returning,  but 
buoyed  up  by  the  feeling  that  the  fates  had  some- 
thing good  in  store. 

His  senses  were  keenly  awake,  the  green  and 
pink  striped  rocks  seemed  to  beckon  him  on.  He 
felt  as  though  the  impossible  might  happen,  as 
though  one  of  the  great  dinosaurs  might  stride 
out,  as  in  life,  from  behind  some  of  the  fantasti- 
cally carved  buttes  on  either  hand.  A  jack  rabbit, 
suddenly  leaping  along  a  dry  ravine,  brought  his 
heart  in  his  mouth  with  a  jump.  A  stumble  of 
his  cow-pony  changed  the  current  of  his  thoughts 
and  made  him  realize  that  he  had  not  stopped  for 
dinner,  nor  given  his  pony  any  water  since  break- 
fast. 

Dismounting  on  the  instant,  he  slung  out  the 
canteen,  and,  finding  a  slightly  hollowed  rock  in 
a  shadowed  place  where  it  had  not  been  turned 
to  blister-heat  by  the  sun,  gave  his  pony  a  drink 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       343 

and  a  handful  of  oats.  He  took  out  his  own  sand- 
wiches and  idly  tossed  a  crumb  to  a  lizard  bask- 
ing on  a  rock  hard  by.  The  little  brown  creature 
snatched  the  crumb,  and  with  a  flicker  of  his  tail, 
disappeared.  Idly,  his  lunch  over,  Perry  followed 
where  the  lizard  had  gone  and  stooped  down  to 
look  into  the  hole. 

"  If  a  chap  could  only  multiply  that  lizard  by 
about  a  hundred  times, "  he  said  to  himself,  "  it 
wouldn't  be  so  awfully  far  from  a  Diplodocus. 
A  hundred  times  as  long — " 

He  stopped. 

"  A  hundred  times — " 

What  was  that  queer  exposure  in  the  rock? 

He  rubbed  his  eyes.  Kemembering  that  An- 
toine  had  warned  him  of  the  strange  appearances 
that  seemed  to  come  in  the  glare  of  those  painted 
rocks,  he  turned  away  and  looked  into  the  shadow. 
Then,  hardly  daring  to  trust  his  eyes,  he  walked 
over  quietly  and  softly  to  a  long,  low  mound,  from 
three  inches  to  a  foot  above  the  surface,  which 
ran  along  the  edge  of  a  small  gully. 

A  long  broken  line  of  weathered  bone  met  his 
gaze. 

Feverishly,  hardly  daring  yet  to  believe  that 
it  might  be  true,  he  fell  on  his  knees  beside  the 


344       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

bones,  and  with  his  small  geological  pick,  began 
to  clear  away  the  rock,  half  hopefully,  half  fear- 
fully seeking  to  make  sure.  The  rock  was  fairly 
soft.  Soon,  at  the  end  nearest  to  him,  one  of  the 
larger  bones  showed  clear,  as  the  sun  and  weather 
had  cracked  the  rock  around  it. 

Chip,  chip,  chip! 

The  minutes  and  the  hours  passed,  but  the  boy, 
down  beside  the  brown  bones  on  the  ground,  knew 
nothing  of  the  time.  Forty  feet  away,  the  pony 
plucked  at  the  scanty  herbage,  but  Perry  never 
took  his  eyes  off  from  the  ground.  The  rock  was 
not  hard,  and  was  sufficiently  rotted  to  break  under 
the  pick,  and  by  fractions  of  an  inch  the  bones 
grew  clearer. 

Chip!    Chip!    Chip! 

Over  the  mountains  to  the  westward  the  sun 
began  to  fall,  the  shimmering  heat  of  the  desert 
cleared  and  the  distant  buttes  glowed  purple. 
But,  though  the  boy's  arm  was  aching  and  his 
back  was  stiff  from  long  stooping,  he  was  as  un- 
witting of  the  pain  as  of  the  waning  light,  and 
the  blows  of  the  little  hammer  came  down  with 
ceaseless  regularity,  telling  the  strokes  of  doom 
t,hat  should  bring  some  monstrous  creature  from 
its  ten-million-year-old  grave. 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS      345 

Chip!    Chip!    Chip! 

The  rim  of  the  sun  had  touched  the  further 
hills,  when,  still  in  a  daze,  the  boy  straightened 
up  and  looked  at  what  he  had  uncovered.  Small 
though  was  the  head,  fragmentary  as  was  the 
amount  of  rock  he  had  removed,  he  added  hope 
and  imagination  to  knowledge  and  envisioned  the 
whole.  The  monstrous  length  of  neck  which  he 
felt  sure  must  be  the  meaning  of  those  slight  out- 
crops hinted  a  colossal  story.  He  paced  the  whole 
line  of  the  skeleton. 

One !  Two !  Three ! — Thirty-four  paces !  One 
hundred  and  two  feet !  It  could  not  be ! 

But,  returning  his  steps,  the  paces  came  to  the 
same. 

Perry  looked  at  the  sky  and  knew  that  it  was 
evening.  Carefully  he  had  watched  his  land- 
marks as  he  rode,  but  too  many  people  had  told 
him  of  the  dangers  of  being  lost  in  the  Bad  Lands 
for  him  to  dare  to  try  to  make  his  way  home. 
Still,  he  might  make  a  start. 

Back  to  his  pony  went  the  boy,  and,  before 
mounting,  he  looked  round  once  again  to  see  the 
great  mushroom-capped  butte  that  was  his  home- 
ward guide.  He  could  see  it  nowhere!  And, 
while  he  watched,  he  saw  shapes  that  had  been 


346       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

quite  familiar  in  the  daylight  change  under  the 
quickly  fading  dusk.  There  was  no  help  for  it, 
he  must  stay  the  night  through  and  wait  until  the 
morning  to  find  his  way  back  to  camp. 

But  the  giant  skeleton  lured  him  again,  and,  a 
few  moments  later,  he  was  on  his  knees  again  be- 
side that  ancient  saurian,  and  the  strokes  of  the 
hammer  fell  throbbing  across  the  silence  of  a  night 
in  the  Bad  Lands. 

Chip!    Chip!    Chip! 

Far  away  in  the  distance,  where  perhaps  some 
slight  vegetation  came  down  from  the  hills,  for  he 
was  on  the  very  edge  of  the  desert  country,  came 
the  long-drawn  howl  of  a  coyote.  For  a  second 
the  hammer  hung  poised,  then  fell  again,  beating, 
beating  through  the  night. 

He  knew  that  to  expose  such  a  skeleton  would 
mean  the  work  of  a  month  or  two  for  several  men, 
probably  with  the  aid  of  dynamite,  but  he  was  de- 
termined at  least  to  bring  an  inch  or  two,  clear. 
The  chill  star-shine  gave  him  light  enough,  but 
though  the  day  had  been  so  hot,  the  night  was 
cold.  He  piled  a  heap  of  sage-brush  and  mesquite 
and  lit  a  fire.  Then,  unable  to  leave  his  find,  back 
he  went  to  the  skeleton  again. 

Chip!    Chip!    Chip! 


jil 
I  Ufa 

3     *»  .a  a 


f 

I  3~ 

O  <»  O 


IN  A  DINOSAUR'S  CLAWS       347 

Little  by  little  the  form  of  the  huge  creature 
began  to  appear  to  him.  This  tiny  fragment  of 
rock  grew  huge  to  his  tired  eyes.  Longer  than  a 
Diplodocus,  bigger  than  a  Brontosaur,  the  hundred 
feet  and  more  of  the  mighty  monarch  of  the  past 
stretched  out  upon  the  plain,  stretched  as  it  had 
fallen  for  the  last  sleep  on  the  borders  of  that  lake 
ten  million  years  ago. 

The  cold  stole  into  the  boy's  bones,  and  his 
fingers  were  so  weary  that  he  could  scarcely  hold 
the  hammer.  He  piled  the  fire  high  again,  and 
went  back  to  his  work.  But  the  strokes  fell  slowly 
now,  and  the  beating  of  the  hammer  in  the  night 
was  labored  and  irregular.  The  high-heaped  fire 
sent  its  beacon  gleam  against  the  sky  and  showed 
the  shadow  of  the  boy,  striving  the  long  night 
through  to  bring  the  giant  of  the  past  to  light. 

Chip!  .  .  .  Chip!  .  .  . 

The  hammer  fell  aimlessly.  Ineffectively  the 
boy  made  an  attempt  to  raise  it,  but  his  fingers 
were  nerveless.  He  swayed  once,  twice,  then  fell 
forward  on  his  hands  across  the  Titan,  sunk  in 
the  sleep  of  exhaustion. 

As  the  dawn  broke,  three  riders,  at  full  speed, 
guided  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  came  dashing  down 
the  ravine,  and  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun 


348       THE  MONSTER-HUNTERS 

showed  them  the  boy  asleep,  pillowed  on  the  out- 
crop of  a  Brachiosaurus,  which  later  quarrying 
was  to  prove  one  of  the  finest  of  its  kind. 

"  Some   paleontologist!  "   said  the   professor, 
and  laid  his  overcoat  over  the  sleeping  boy. 


THE    END 


U.  S.  SERVICE  SERIES 

By  FRANCIS  ROLT-WHEELER 

Illustrations  from  photographs  taken  in  work  for  U.  S.  Government 
Large  12mo    Cloth    $1.50  per  volume 

"There  are  no  better  books  for  boys  than  Francis  Rolt-Wheeler's 
'U.  S.  Service  Series.'  " — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  SURVEY 

THIS  story  describes  the  thrilling  advent- 
ures  of  members  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  graphically  woven  into  a  stirring 
narrative  that  both  pleases  and  instructs.  The 
author  enjoys  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  chiefs  of  the  various  bureaus  in  Washing- 
ton, and  is  able  to  obtain  at  first  hand  the 
material  for  his  books. 

11  There  is  abundant  charm  and  vigor  in  the 
narrative  which  is  sure  to  please  the  boy  reader* 
and  will  do  much  toward  stimulating  their  patriot, 
ism  by  making  them  alive  to  the  needs  of  conger- 
vatipn  of  the  vast  resources  of  their  country."— 
Chicago  Nevus* 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  FORESTERS 

THE  life  of  a  typical  boy  is  followed  in  all  its  adventurous  detail — the 
mighty  representative  of  our  country's  government,  though  young  in 
years — a  youthful  monarch  in  a  vast  domain  of  forest.     Replete  with 
information,  alive  with  adventure,  and  inciting  patriotism  at  every  step, 
this  handsome  book  is  one  to  be  instantly  appreciated. 

•'  It  is  a  fascinating  romance  of  real  life  in  our  country,  and  willprpve  a  great 
pleasure  and  inspiration  to  the  boys  who  read  it."—  The  Continent,  Chicago. 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  CENSUS 

'T'H  ROUGH  the  experiences  of  a  bright  American  boy,  the  author  shows 
*  how  the  necessary  information  is  gathered.  The  securing  of  this  of- 
ten involves  hardship  and  peril,  requiring  journeys  by  dog-team  in  the 
frozen  North  and  by  launch  in  the  alligator-filled  Everglades  of  Florida, 
while  the  enumerator  whose  work  lies  among  the  dangerous  criminal 
classes  of  the  greater  cities  must  take  his  life  in  his  own  hands. 

"  Every  young  man  should  read  this  story  from  cover  to  cover,  thereby  getting 
a  clear  conception  of  conditions  as  they  exist  to-day,  for  such  knowledge  will  have 
a  clean,  invigorating  and  healthy  influence  on  the  young  growing  and  thinking 
mind." — Boston  Globe. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


THE  BOY  WITH  THE 
U.S.SURVEY 


U.  S.  SERVICE  SERIES 

By  FRANCIS   ROLT-WHEELER 

Many  illustrations  from  photographs  taken  in  work  for  U.S.  Government 
Large  12mo    Cloth    $1.50  per  volume 

"  There  are  no  better  books  for  boys  than  Francis  Rolt- Wheeler's  *  U.  S. 
Service  Series.' " — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

THE  BOY  WITH  THE  U.  S.  FISHERIES 

WITH  a  bright,  active  American  youth  as 
a  hero,  is  told  the  story  of  the  Fisheries, 
which  in  their  actual  importance  dwarf  every 
other  human  industry.  The  book  does  not 
lack  thrilling  scenes.  The  far  Aleutian  Islands 
have  witnessed  more  desperate  sea-fighting 
than  has  occurred  elsewhere  since  the  days  of 
the  Spanish  buccaneers,  and  pirate  craft,  which 
the  U.  S.  Fisheries  must  watch,  rifle  in  hand, 
are  prowling  in  the  Behring  Sea  to-day.  The 
fish-farms  of  the  United  States  are  as  inter- 
esting as  they  are  immense  in  their  scope. 
«*  One  of  the  best  booksforboys  of  all  ages,  so 
attractively  written  and  illustrated  as  to  fascinate 
the  reader  into  staying  up  until  all  hours  to  finish 
it."—Pkt'IadelJ>kia  Despatch. 

THE   BOY  WITH  THE  U.  5.  INDIANS 

THIS  book  tells  all  about  the  Indian  as  he 
really  was  and  is;  the  Menominee  in  his 
birch-bark  canoe;  the  Iroquois  in  his  wigwam  in 
the  forest;  the  Sioux  of  the  plains  upon  his  war- 
pony;  the  Apache,  cruel  and  unyielding  as  his 
arid  desert;  the  Pueblo  Indians,  with  remains  of 
ancient  Spanish  civilization  lurking  in  the  fast- 
nesses of  their  massed  communal  dwellings;  the 
Tlingit  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  with  his  totem-poles. 
With  a  typical  bright  American  youth  as  a  central 
figure,  a  good  idea  of  a  great  field  of  national 
activity  is  given,  and  made  thrilling  in  its  human 
side  by  the  heroism  demanded  by  the  little-known 
adventures  of  those  who  do  the  work  ol  "  Uncle 
Sam." 

•  •  An  exceedingly  Interesting1  Indian  story,  because  it  i«  true,  and  not  merely 
a  dramatic  and  picturesque  incident  of  Indian  life." — N.  Y.  Times. 

"  It  tells  the  Indian's  story  in  a  way  that  will  fascinate  the  youngster.'*— 
Rochester  Herald. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  seat  postpaid  oa  receipt 
ot  price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


THEBOYiWITH.THE 
U.S.FISHERIES 


THEBOYW1THTHE 
U.S.INDIANS 


THE  BOY  ELECTRICIAN 

Practical  Plans  for   Electrical   Toys  and   Apparatus,  with  an 
Explanation  of  the  Principles  of  Every-Day  Electricity 

By  ALFRED  P.  MORGAN 

Author  of  "Wireless  Telegraphy  Construction  for  Amateurs**  and 

"Wireless  Telegraphy  and  Telephony"     yx)  illustrations 

and  working  drawings  by  the  author    Nett  $2.00 

Postpaid,  $2.25 


r"pHIS  is  the  age  of  electricity.  The  most 
J-  fascinating  of  all  books  for  a  boy  must, 
therefore,  be  one  dealing  with  the  mystery  of 
this  ancient  force  and  modern  wonder.  The 
best  qualified  of  experts  to  instruct  boys  has 
in  a  book  far  superior  to  any  other  of  its  kind 
told  not  only  how  to  MAKE  all  kinds  of 
motors,  telegraphs,  telephones,  batteries, 
etc.,  but  how  these  appliances  are  used  in 
the  great  industrial  world. 


"Of  all  books  recently  published  on  practical  electricity  for  the  youth. 
ful  electricians,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  even  one  among-  them  that  is  more 
suited  to  this  field.  This  work  is  recommended  to  every  one  interested  in 
electricity  and  the  making  of  electrical  appliances." 

Popular  Electricity  and  Modern  Mechanics 

"This  is  an  admirably  complete  and  explicit  handbook  for  boys  who  fall 
under  the  spell  of  experimenting  and  "tinkering"  with  electrical  apparatus. 
Simple  explanations  of  the  principles  involved  make  the  operation  readily 
understandable."  Boston  Transcript. 

'•Any  boy  who  studies  this  book,  and  applies  himself  to  the  making  and 
operating  oi  the  simple  apparatus  therein  depicted,  will  be  usefully  and  happily 
employed.  He  will,  furthermore,  be  developing  into  a  useful  citizen.  For  this 
reason  we  recommend  it  as  an  excellent  gift  for  all  boys  with  energy,  appli. 
cation,  and  ambition."  Electrical  Record,  N.  Y.  City. 

"A  book  to  delight  the  hearts  of  ten  thousand  —  perhaps  fifty  thousand  — 
American  boys  who  are  interested  in  wireless  telegranhy  and  that  sort  of  thing. 
Any  boy  who  has  even  a  slight  interest  in  things  electrical,  will  kindle  with 
enthusiasm  at  sight  of  this  Book."  Chicago  News. 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


THE  HANDY  BOY 

A  Modern  Handy  Book  of  Practical  and  Profitable  Pastimes 
By  A.  NEELY   HALL 

Author  of  "The  Boy  Craftsman"  and 
"Handicraft  for  Handy  Boys" 

With  nearly  600  illustrations  and  working  drawings  by 

the  Author  and  Norman  P.  Hall    8vo    Cloth 

Price,  Net,  $1.60     Postpaid,  $1.82 

A  HANDY  boy  becomes  a  handy  man — a 
skilled  mechanic,  a  practical  business 
man,  a  thorough,  accurate  worker.  That  is 
why  it  is  so  important  to  encourage  the  boy  to 
become  handy.  ' '  The  Handy  Boy ' '  has  been 
written  with  a  view  to  instructing  the  boy  in 
the  ways  of  doing  things  handily,  by  applying 
handy  methods  to  the  making  and  doing  of 
hundreds  of  worth-while  things  in  which  he  is 
intensely  interested.  Such  instruction  as  it 
contains  can  be  put  to  immediate  use;  and 
this  naturally  appeals  to  the  boy's  sense  of  the 
practical  and  is  of  infinitely  more  value  to  him 
than  instruction  which  cannot  possibly  be  of 
any  use  for  years  to  come,  because  knowledge 

once  applied  is  not  easily  forgotten. 

Besides  developing  handiness,  "The  Handy  Boy"  will  encourage  the 

boy  to  think  for  himself  and  to  use  his  ingenuity ;  and  it  will  instill  in  him 

an  ambition  to  make  the  best  possible  use  of  his  time  so  that  he  may  grow 

up  prepared  to  do  something  and  be  something. 

"  Mr.  Hall's  book  is  just  the  thine  to  put  into  the  growing  boy's  hand  to  keep 
him  successfully  and  happily  employed." — Des  Moines  Capital. 

"The  best  book  of  its  kind  that  has  yet  been  published."— Boston  Transcript. 

•'There  is  scarcely  any  boy  from  twelve  to  sixteen  or  seventeen  that  will  not  be 
delighted  with  such  a  book,  and  no  one  would  fail  to  receive  much  valuable  infor. 
mation  from  it."— Presbyterian. 

"Here  is  a  book  that  should  be  in  the  library  of  every  healthy,  ambitious 
American  boy."—  Buffalo  Commercial. 

"  No  other  volume  contains  such  a  variety  of  wholesome,  instructive,  and  entev 
taining  material,  nor  presents  so  many  ways  of  making  use  of  the  things  at  hand.*' 
—  Chicago  Advance. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


HANDICRAFT  FOR  HANDY   BOYS 

Practical  Plans  for  Work  and  Play  with 
Many  Ideas  for  Earning  Money 

By  A.  NEELY  HALL 

Author  of   "The  Boy  Craftsman " 

With  Nearly  600  Illustrations  and  Working-drawings  by 

the  Author  and  Norman  P.  Hall     8vo     Cloth 

Net,  $2.00    Postpaid,  $2.25 

THIS  book  is  intended  for  boys  who 
want  the  latest  ideas  for  making 
things,  practical  plans  for  earning  money, 
up-to-date  suggestions  for  games  and 
sports,  and  novelties  for  home  and  school 
entertainments. 

The  author  has  planned  the  suggestions 
on  an  economical  basis,  providing  for  the 
use  cf  the  things  at  hand,  and  many  of 
the  things  which  can  be  bought  cheaply. 
Mr.  Hall's  books  have  won  the  confi- 
dence of  parents,  who  realize  that  in 
giving  them  to  their  boys  they  are  pro* 
viding  wholesome  occupations  which  will 
encourage  self-reliance  and  resourceful- 
ness, and  discourage  tendencies  to  be  extravagant. 

Outdoor  and  indoor  pastimes  have  been  given  equal  attention,  and 
much  of  the  work  is  closely  allied  to  the  studies  of  the  modern  grammar 
and  high  schools,  as  will  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  following  list  of 
subjects,  which  are  only  a  few  among  those  discussed  in  the  500  pages  ol 
text: 

MANUAL  TRAINING?  EASILY-MADE  FURNITURE;  FITTING  UP  A 
BOY'S  ROOM;  HOME-MADE  GYMNASIUM  APPARATUS;  A  BOY'S 
WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  OUTFIT;  COASTERS  AND  BOB-SLEDS; 
MODEL  AEROPLANES;  PUSHMOBILES  AND  OTHER  HOME-MADE 
WAGONS;  A  CASTLE  CLUBHOUSE  AND  HOME-MADE  ARMOR. 

Modern  ingenious  work  such  as  the  above  cannot  fail  to  develop 
mechanical  ability  in  a  boy,  and  this  book  will  get  right  next  to  his  heart. 

«•  The  book  is  a  treasure  house  for  boys  who  like  to  work  with  tools  and  hare 
a  purpose  in  their  working." — Springfield  Union, 

"  It  is  a  capital  book  for  boys  since  it  encourages  them  in  wholesome,  useful 
occupation,  encourages  self-reliance  and  resourcefulness  and  at  the  same  time 
discourages  extravagance." — Brooklyn  Times. 

"  It  Is  all  in  this  book,  and  if  anything  has  got  away  from  the  author  we  do 
not  know  what  it  is."— Buffalo  News. 

For  &*le  by  all  booksellers,  or  sent  oq  receipt  of 
postpaid  price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,   LEE   &    SHEPARD    CO.,   Boston 


CRAFT 
FOR 

HANDY 
BOYS 


The  Book  of  Athletics 

Edited  by  PAUL  WITHINGTON 

With  many  reproductions  of  photographs,  and  with  diagrams 
Net)  $1.50     Postpaid,  $1.70 

NEARLY  thirty  college  stars  and 
champions,  men  like  Dr.  Kraen- 
zlein,  Thorpe,  Ketcham,  "Sammy" 
White,  "Eddie"  Hart,  Ralph  Craig, 
"Hurry  Up"  Yost,  Jay  Camp,  Homer, 
Jackson,  F.  D.  Huntington,  R.  Norris 
Williams,  "Eddie"  Mahan,  and  many 
more  tell  the  best  there  is  to  tell  about 
every  form  of  athletic  contest  of  con- 
sequence. In  charge  of  the  whole 
work  is  Paul  Withington,  of  Harvard, 
famous  as  football  player,  oarsman, 
wrestler  and  swimmer. 

"  Here  is  a  book  that  will  serve  a  purpose  and  satisfy  a  need. 
Every  important  phase  of  sport  in  school  and  college  is  discussed 
within  its  covers  by  men  who  have  achieved  eminent  success  in  their 
line.  Methods  of  training,  styles  of  play,  and  directions  for  attaining 
success  are  expounded  in  a  clear,  forceful,  attractive  manner.*' 

Harvard  Monthly. 

"The  book  is  made  up  under  the  direction  of  the  best  qualified 
editor  to  be  found,  Paul  Withington,  who  is  one  of  America's  greatest 
amateur  athletes,  and  who  has  the  intellectual  ability  and  high 
character  requisite  for  presenting  such  a  book  properly.  The  emphasis 
placed  upon  clean  living,  fair  play  and  moderation  in  all  things  makes 
this  book  as  desirable  educationally  as  it  is,  in  every  other  way." 

Outdoor  Life. 

"  That  Mr.  Withington's  book  will  be  popular  we  do  not  doubt. 
For  it  contains  a  series  of  expert  treatises  on  all  important  branches 
of  outdoor  sports.  A  very  readable,  practical,  well-illustrated  book." 

Boston  Herald. 


Paul  Withington 
\/ — I 


For  tale  by  all  booksellers  or  sent  on  receipt  of  postpaid 
price  by  the  publishers 

LOTHROP,  LEE  &  SHEPARD  CO.,  BOSTON 


< 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

EARTH  SCIENCES  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are>ubject  to  immediate  recall. 


General  Library 

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Berkeley 


>tora 


